Detainee hid sheet with inmates’ personal information in her body, Georgia sheriff says
A missing sheet with sensitive inmate information turned up — inside a detainee, a Georgia sheriff said.
The breach was reportedly part of a coordinated effort to exploit the personal data of other inmates inside the Catoosa County jail in Ringgold, according to Sheriff Gary Sisk.
An investigation began this month after Sisk said a detention officer mistakenly left a “printed housing sheet” containing inmates’ birth dates and Social Security numbers in a women’s cell block, authorities said.
On Feb. 10, inmates alerted jailers about the sheet and said another inmate had it, according to the sheriff. A search of the cell block came up empty, however.
“Inmates were heard on recorded phone calls telling people about a data breach and that they were going to get ‘paid’ for civil actions,” Sisk said in a news release.
Officers started interviewing inmates, who said a fellow detainee, 41, took the sheet, according to the release.
McClatchy News isn’t naming the woman because she hasn’t been charged.
In an interview with officers, the female inmate said she left the sheet with another inmate who had been released, “for safekeeping,” Sisk said. Authorities spoke with the released inmate, who told them the woman’s claims weren’t true.
During this time, the sheriff said inmates were allowed to contact credit reporting agencies to freeze their credit “as a cautionary measure.”
Officers interviewed the 41-year-old a second time after inmates continued to say she had the sheet, according to Sisk. She later acknowledged hiding the paper in her body, but not before trying to leverage the data in exchange for her release, the sheriff said.
“She retrieved the housing sheet and returned it to the detention staff,” he said.
The inmate is being disciplined and could face additional charges, according to the release. Other inmates accused in the scheme could also face disciplinary action, the sheriff said.
Authorities didn’t name the detention officer accused of misplacing the housing sheet but said he was reprimanded.
Ringgold is about 100 miles northwest of Atlanta, near the Georgia-Tennessee border.
Man pays probation fees with credit card he stole hours earlier, Georgia cops say
High school fires IT manager — then he launches cyberattack on its network, feds say
Stolen Social Security numbers sold online netted $19 million, feds say. Man sentenced
