Former clerk at dentist office sentenced to prison for identity theft

A financial clerk for Brownsville dentist Dr. David S. Pedley has been sentenced to spend more than five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges related to identity theft.

Claire Batsell, 25, of Brownsville, pleaded guilty earlier this week 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.

Batsell was ordered to pay $110,000 in restitution. In addition, she will serve a three-year term of supervised release.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Batsell used patient information to open and bill credit card accounts in the names of other people. 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 learned of Batsell’s scheme in July 2007 and filed an identity theft report with the U.S. Postal Inspector, which is charged with investigating such crimes.

According to federal court documents, Batsell admitted to opening CareCredit accounts in patients’ names without their permission. She took money from the dental practice and made charges on the CareCredit accounts to cover up for the money she stole.

When questioned by Brownsville police, Batsell admitted to "pocketing" cash payments of up to $400, the documents state. From December 2006 to May 2007, Batsell said she stole about $6,000.

She also admitted to opening and using 24 fraudulent CareCredit accounts and using 12 others without the authorization of patients.

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. Pedley has been in business for 35 years.

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."

Pedley also stated he and his staff suffered "much embarrassment and stress having to explain to patients what Batsell had done."