Fake whistleblower sentenced for framing Georgia hospital employee in HIPAA violation scheme

Jackie Drees -

Jeffrey Parker, who falsely portrayed himself as a whistleblower and framed a Georgia hospital employee of violating HIPAA, was sentenced to six months in federal prison, according to a Feb. 23 Effingham Herald report.

In 2019, Mr. Parker accused a former acquaintance who worked at an unnamed hospital in Savannah, Ga., of sending him photos of patients.

Mr. Parker admitted to creating fake email addresses to corroborate his claim and to sending messages to the hospital, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI from those accounts. He also falsely claimed that he had received threatening messages from the hospital worker in retaliation for acting as a whistleblower.

The FBI launched an investigation into Mr. Parker's claims, and after subsequent questioning, Mr. Parker admitted to fabricating the scheme to frame the hospital worker.

In addition to his prison sentence, Mr. Parker was fined $1,200 and must serve three years of supervised release.

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