United States Attorney Jenny A. Durkan
Western District of Washington
FORMER DSHS FINANCIAL WORKER PLEADS GUILTY TO UNLAWFULLY ACCESSING A PROTECTED COMPUTER
Defendant Earned More than $100,000 Selling Employment Information
THEVY PLOM, 44, of Tacoma, Washington, a former Financial Services Specialist for the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to unlawfully accessing a protected computer. PLOM used his position at DSHS to access computer records maintained by the Washington Employment Security Department, and provided confidential information to others for a fee. Over the ten years, PLOM earned about $108,000 through the scheme. PLOM faces up to five years in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton on June 24, 2011.
According to the plea agreement and other records filed in the case, PLOM set up a company in his wife’s name and funneled payments from process servers, private investigators and others into the company bank accounts. PLOM was contacted by various people, often by email, seeking employment and wage information. Lawyers and process servers used the employment information to help locate individuals, to assist in filing garnishment on their wages, or to assist with debt collection. PLOM would use the access granted to him as a financial tech for DSHS to look up the information on the Employment Security Computers. He would then email the information to the customers, and the customers would send checks made out to the company: ‘TLC General Services Inc.’ PLOM resigned his job with DSHS in 2008. The investigation revealed that over a ten year period PLOM unlawfully accessed the employment records of more than one thousand people.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend no more than 24 months in prison for PLOM, and the defense will recommend no less than 18 months in prison. PLOM has agreed to forfeit $108,000 to the U.S. as proceeds of his criminal scheme.
The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG) and by Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA)
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kathryn Kim Frierson.
