February 2008 Illinois Department of Human Services Security Incident
The Rockford Illinois Policie Department contacted the Rockford Family Community Resource Center (FCRC) on February 29, 2008 after the police discovered 12 boxes of FCRC files in the basement of a local residence. According to a May 6, 2008 letter [pdf] from the Illinois Department of Human Services to the Illionis General Assembly, when DHS Dision of Human Capital Development (HCD) was able to access these boxes on March 4, 2008 HCD employees determined the boxes contained 1450 customers’ case files. These case files contained names, addresses, Social Security numbers and “in many cases” confidential medical information.
One of the residents in the home where the files were found was an HCD employee. This employee was suspended pending judicial judgement. Rockford police discovered the files while investigating the occupants of the residence as part of an unspecified investigation.
According to the letter, removing case files from the FCRC was against HCD policy and DHS Administrative Directives as well as an FCRC directive that all boxes being removed from the office be examined. In response to this incident, no boxes can be brought in or taken from the FCRC office and security staff will begin searching all duffel bags, book bags, etc as staff leave the office.
[This letter was obtained through a FOIA request with the State of Illinois]
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