Army base medical tech pleaded guilty in scheme that stole millions from disabled and elderly veterans

A former medical records administrator pleaded guilty for his role in a foreign-based conspiracy the Justice Department called the largest identity theft scheme against military members and their families.

Fredrick Brown, 38, who worked as a civilian technician at a United States Army base in South Korea, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder money. Brown faces up to 20 years in prison for each count.

Brown admitted that, from July 2014 to September 2015, he stole the personal identifying information of thousands of military members, including names, Social Security numbers, Department of Defense ID numbers, dates of birth, and contact information by taking photos of his computer screen while logged into the U.S. military’s health records database. Brown then handed over that stolen data to the scheme’s alleged ringleader, Robert Wayne Boling Jr. “so that Boling and others could exploit the information in various ways to access Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs benefits sites and steal millions of dollars,” authorities said.