ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Trent James Russell, a former Arlington resident, was sentenced to two years in prison today for unauthorized access to another person’s healthcare information and for destroying evidence in a federal investigation.
Russell, 34, was convicted by a federal jury on July 31. According to court documents and trial evidence, Russell was employed by an organ donation coordination organization from 2017 to 2019. His position allowed him to access sensitive electronic medical records. In January 2019, he used this access to remotely obtain and screenshot the medical information of a federal official.
When he was cut off from accessing health records on February 10, 2019, Russell attempted to cover his tracks. Two days later, he formatted his hard drive to destroy and alter evidence. Then, during an FBI interview on February 21, 2019, Russell told agents his cellphone had been stolen and handed over a secondary hard drive, withholding the primary drive where most of his actions were stored.
Russell’s efforts to conceal his actions led to obstruction charges alongside unauthorized access to protected health information, culminating in today’s sentencing to two years in federal prison.