The Charles Lea Center

The Charles Lea Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina, experienced a breach of trust involving two employees who were charged with stealing from residents at the assisted living facility. Amber Michelle Champion and Breanna Nicole Champion, cousins from Spartanburg, were charged with breach of trust with fraudulent intent and obtaining signature or property under false pretenses, respectively. The incident occurred on December 26, 2022, when Amber Champion used an EBT card belonging to a resident for personal use at a grocery store and gave a second resident’s EBT card to Breanna Champion, who also used it for personal use at a Walmart. The Charles Lea Center reported the case to law enforcement and cooperated fully with the investigation. Both women were booked into the Spartanburg County Detention Center and will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office[3][7].

Additionally, the Charles Lea Center suffered a ransomware attack in June 2023, which resulted in the encryption of part of its network and a ransom demand by the threat actor claiming to have exfiltrated files. The forensic investigation could not determine the specific types of information compromised, but a file review confirmed that exposed files contained names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and some medical treatment information. The Center notified 1,250 individuals about the breach and offered complimentary credit monitoring services. They have taken steps to enhance data privacy and security measures[11].

Citations:

1. https://consumer.sc.gov/sites/consumer/files/Documents/Security%20Breach%20Notices/TheCharlesLeaCenter.pdf
2. https://www.thestate.com
3. https://www.wyff4.com/article/south-carolina-cousins-assisted-living-stealing/44592344
4. https://www.wspa.com/news/local-news/watch-spartanburg-county-sheriff-to-speak-on-recent-arrest/
5. https://charleslea.org
6. https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/troy-mo-motorcyclist-killed-in-crash-in-st-charles-county/article_40a52370-cb3e-11ee-b7cc-d7b529cd745f.html
7. https://www.scag.gov/about-the-office/news/attorney-general-alan-wilson-announces-spartanburg-cousins-arrested-for-stealing-from-assisted-living-home-residents/
8. https://www.wspa.com/news/local-news/upstate-school-district-mourns-the-loss-of-school-counselor/
9. https://www.wspa.com/news/local-news/upstate-cousins-arrested-for-allegedly-using-ebt-funds-that-belonged-to-assisted-living-home-residents/
10. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/podcasts/the-daily/new-york-election.html
11. https://www.hipaajournal.com/state-of-maine-reports-450000-record-data-breach/
12. https://omaha.com/news/local/nebraska-oks-creation-of-good-life-districts-in-gretna-omaha/article_bc638c00-cac0-11ee-9c32-aff35b99fbbc.html
13. https://consumer.sc.gov/identity-theft-unit/security-breach-notices
14. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-13/islamic-state-raids-mozambique-town-as-total-plans-lng-return
15. https://breachdata.topwords.me/states/SC?limit=20&offset=20&sort=data_source
16. https://www.stltoday.com/sports/professional/mls/city-sc/after-a-longer-than-expected-absence-eduard-lowen-has-green-card-is-back-with-city/article_4e5eb6d0-cab6-11ee-ba84-2fc2303d3c42.html