[ISN] Ex-Gov't Worker Sentenced In Prostitution Case

[InfoSec News]

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/5439171/detail.html

December 1, 2005

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a former
employee of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to four
years probation for using her computer access at work to promote
prostitution.

Candice Smith, 44, of Blue Springs, pleaded guilty in July to
unauthorized computer intrusion. Her sentence includes four months of
home detention.

As part of her plea, Smith admitted making illegal inquiries into the
LexisNexis database, which was available to her in her job as a
payment recovery specialist for the Center for Medicaid Services, an
agency of the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to prosecutors, Smith had been working as a prostitute and
used information from LexisNexis to help her avoid arrest and
prosecution.

Candice Smith told KMBC by phone that she wants to go on with her life
and raise her children, but she can't get a job. She said the media
coverage of her case has destroyed her life and hurt her family.

Her ex-husband, Tom Smith, wants custody of the boys, ages 8 and 11.

"There are two boys involved. Why now, when you get caught, do you
think of the children?" Tom Smith told KMBC's Maria Antonia.

Tom Smith said he had hoped his ex-wife would end up in prison.

"She just got away with it," Tom Smith said.

He was in the courtroom Wednesday to raise his concerns about Candice
raising their boys.

"We took our case to social services, and they said unless she was
making the children watch her perform sexual acts, there was nothing
they could do to help us out," Tom Smith said.

He said he will fight for custody of the children in court.

Meanwhile, the federal judge said Smith's case is not about
prostitution -- it's about a federal employee using a computer
illegally.