Thread: County implements checks of Social Security numbers for empl

County implements checks of Social Security numbers for employees
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http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/number ... hecks.html

August 6, 2008 - 6:12PM
Robert Boyer / Times-News
The county is stepping up its scrutiny of all prospective county employees.

"We're now connected with Homeland Security and their e-verify system," County Manager David Smith said. "For all new employees, we will send their Social (Security numbers) in to have them checked."

The move come after Sheriff Terry Johnson announced Monday that county employee Filemon Hernandez-Quintana of Graham had been charged with identity theft.

Hernandez-Quintana was a contract, temporary employee who did maintenance work, sheriff's spokesman Randy Jones said.
Smith said he ran a check on all county employees after federal authorities charged Graham library worker Marxavi Angel Martinez with identity theft. Angel-Martinez, 23, has lived in the U.S. since she was 3. She is accused of using the Social Security number of a long-dead person to secure employment.

The charges came after Sheriff Terry Johnson said a county employee gave him a tip about Angel-Martinez.
Hernandez-Quintana "was the only other name that came up when the library employee was discovered," Smith said. The two arrests, Smith said, convinced him to implement the e-verify system.

Smith also revealed more about investigations at the county Health Department after his meeting Tuesday with Johnson and agents from the State Bureau of Investigation.

The SBI has completed its criminal investigation and "the findings have been presented to the district attorney for review," Smith wrote in a press release.

Smith doesn't anticipate that District Attorney Rob Johnson will file any charges, but wrote that there "remain issues, some of an administrative nature, that are still to be resolved."

When asked to elaborate, Smith said: "There are still some administrative matters that really need to be adjusted and taken care of. Most of it is procedure on how certain things will be handled."

The SBI began investigating after it came to light that some health department medical staffers were writing work excuse notes with aliases at the request of Hispanic clients two or three times a month.
The staffers, Medical Director Dr. Kathleen Shapley-Quinn and nurse practitioner Karen Saxer, remain on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of investigations by the SBI and Alamance County Sheriff's Department.

Health board Chairman Keith Whited and health board member and County Commissioner Bill Lashley worried that the work notes with false client names might help some illegal immigrants commit identity theft. At Whited's urging, the health board voted unanimously on June 17 to require all patient names to be included on the notes, and voted 6-1 to require all patients to sign a form authorizing and requiring the release of such information to "all non-medical third parties."

After some board members balked, Whited removed a provision in the second policy amendment requiring all names in work notes to go to the sheriff's office. Board member Dr. Michael Blocker, the lone dissenter in the 6-1 vote, later resigned after saying that the board is focusing too much on illegal immigration instead of its mandate to protect the public health.

Smith said he will brief Health Director Barry Bass, Whited, Lashley on "what I've been told" and let them "decide what they want to do."
Smith has asked the sheriff to report on the SBI inquiry to the commissioners during a public hearing. The hearing date will be announced "in the near future" and "all information that is permissible to be released under law will be addressed," Smith said.

After the Tuesday talk with lawmen, Smith stuck by his assertion on Monday that it is doubtful anyone will be charged as a result of the SBI investigation.
"The briefing that I received, they didn't think the district attorney would go any further with it."

In a memo released Wednesday, District Attorney Rob Johnson said he has received "a portion of the report" from the SBI and won't comment until he receives the full report and has had "adequate time to review the same in depth and detail."

Johnson said no charges have been filed and cautioned that anyone mentioned in local media reports should be "presumed to be innocent and ... entitled to the benefit of that presumption."

SMITH SAID HE also learned from Tuesday's briefing that the sheriff's office, not the SBI, will be conducting a second investigation at the county's health and social services departments. Sheriff's Maj. Tim Britt is the lead investigator, Smith added.

Sheriff Johnson refused to comment, other than to confirm that the SBI isn't handling the second investigation.
The sheriff has said that he called in the SBI to conduct the first investigation at the request of Lashley and Smith. The sheriff also said he doesn't think it's a good idea for one county agency to investigate another.
Law agencies typically avoid such in-house investigations because of potential conflicts of interest that can arise.

His spokesman, Jones, said the sheriff's office does sometimes investigate other county agencies when the scope of the inquiry is smaller, such as when an employee is accused of embezzlement.
Jones said he wasn't directly involved in the SBI investigation, but from what he knows, it was a broad, sweeping inquiry. By contrast, Jones said, the sheriff's inquiry is on a "much, much smaller scale."

"It's two totally different magnitudes," he said.
However, on Monday, Smith characterized the second investigation as "a lot more serious than the first investigation" and did not shy away from that assertion in a subsequent interview with the Times-News.
On Wednesday, County DSS Director Susan Osborne said she was "not aware of any investigation" at her department.

Bass, the health department director, said he also wasn't aware of a second probe.

I am amazed how timid these governments, that are supposed to represent their legal citizens, are about enforcing this country's laws. Sorry, I forgot that the federal government is probably the largest employer of illegals, with about 70,000, ala Lou Dobbs commentary a few months ago. And I supposed it is pandering to votes to get reelected, legal or illegal.
Vote your conscience and vote often :P

Good

I wish they would clamp down in Florida. There are some state departments that have illegals who bought SSN's years ago working there.

If every employer started using E-verify. MILLIONS of criminals would be caught, all committing fraud. How is that not a good thing??

Every town should be doing this! these are the kinds of thing that need to be done so illegals will have no choice but to self deport!


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If illegals cannot get jobs, they likely return home! E-verify should be mandatory for any business that hires employees in this country! The reason the pro-illegal invader groups are opposing this is because they know it will work!

IF THE POLICE WAS DOING THIS TO US, AMERICANS, DO YOU THINK THEY WOULD THINK TWICE ABOUT HITTING US TO THE GROUND?

ONCE ON A SUPER HOT DAY I WAS SOME POLICE OFFICERS LAY A WOMAN ONTO THE HOT CONCRETE. JUST LIFTED HER WITH ONE ARM AND PRESSED HER TO THE HOT CONCRETE SO EFFORTLESSLY. I THOUGHT OH MY! THAT COULD BE ME?

Ymonkey56: Did you see that entire incident? I know in the county you would only do that if you ran the person and they had a violent past or have seen them being violent and/or armed in the past. With those scenarios you never know if that action was needed or if the officer is over doing it.