MEDICAL WORKER ADMITS CELEBRITY 'SNOOPING'

MEDICAL WORKER ADMITS CELEBRITY 'SNOOPING'

A former employee of Los Angeles' UCLA Medical Center has pleaded guilty to charges of selling information about celebrity patients to a U.S. tabloid.
Lawanda Jackson, 49, is charged with illegally accessing the files of stars including Farrah Fawcett and Britney Spears, and passing the information on to the National Enquirer in exchange for cash.
Jackson is said to have received approximately $4,600 (GBP2,875) for details of Fawcett's ongoing cancer treatment.
The 49-year-old entered her plea to the felony charge of violating federal medical privacy law for commercial purposes in U.S. District Court in L.A. on Monday (01Dec08). She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 (GBP166,000) fine. Sentencing has been set for May (09).
A recent state investigation found that over 1,000 patients, including Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger had their medical files inappropriately accessed since 2003. The probe followed an expose by the Los Angeles Times newspaper earlier this year (08).