Dentist: Financial clerk sent to prison almost destroyed his practice

A financial clerk for Brownsville dentist David S. Pedley has been sentenced to spend more than five years in federal prison after she pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated identity theft.

Claire Batsell, 25, of Brownsville, appeared Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Hilda Tagle who sentenced her to 69 months in federal prison on a count of fraudulent use of dental patient identification information and  a count of aggravated identity theft.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Batsell used patient information to open and bill credit card accounts for services. In addition, she pocketed cash payments made by the patients.

Batsell committed the offenses from May 2006 until July 2007 when the thefts were discovered and she was fired, authorities said.

Pedley was unaware of Batsell’s scheme and said her actions almost destroyed his practice and damaged his reputation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In a statement before Tagle, Pedley said the thefts affected the credit of some of his patients and "imposed a huge financial burden on him and his family to pay back the credit card company for the fraudulent charges made by Batsell."