THE BRONX (PIX11) -- An ex-hospital clerk and his accomplice are accused of stealing the personal data of more than 4,000 hospital patients and using it to fraudulently obtain more than $1 million in state funds, according to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

According to the District Attorney, Wilkins Estrella allegedly used his position as a clerk to access the social security numbers and other personally identifiable information of hospital patients for two years.

Estrella and his partner, Charlene Marte, used the information to open hundreds of debit cards and obtain $1.6 million in COVID-19 stimulus checks, IRS tax refunds and unemployment insurance benefits from the New York State Department of Labor.

“These defendants misused sensitive identifying

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