East Houston medical clinic records bought at storage unit auction

Jun 03, 2023

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FOX 26 Reporter Randy Wallace spoke with the buyer who ended up finding thousands of medical records from an East Houston clinic inside a storage unit that was bought at an auction.

HOUSTON - Hundreds of boxes of medical records dating back to 2009 to 2019 apparently came from East Houston Medical and Pediatric Clinic. So far, the clinic hasn't responded to our calls and texts.

If you've ever seen the TV show "Storage Wars," then you know how Ben Rosales came to be the owner of this.

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"This looked interesting to me because those are some high dollar chairs," he said. "I saw a table back there."

Rosales thought the contents of all the boxes could be worth something.

"I've bought boxes with collectibles that have comic books in them," he said. "If this was all comic books, we'd be talking thousands of dollars."

What Rosales ended up with is huge headache and possible HIPPA violations.

"According to my count, it's almost 200 boxes in here. 50 to 60 files in each, so we're looking at 12,000 to 14,000 medical files in here," said Rosales.

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This is a dream come true for identity thieves. Boxes and boxes filled with Social Security and driver's license numbers.

"Open bank accounts, you could open credit lines, and everything with all this stuff that's in here," Rosales said.

According to the clinic's website, Dr. Wilson is the owner.

"He said how did you get them? I told him you know how I got them, you didn't pay your storage, or went up for auction and I got it."

Rosales says he told Wilson he would deliver all the files to him for $15,000.

"That's when he said I'll call you back in a few minutes. When he called me back, he said don't even worry about it, just keep them," said Rosales.

But he says he doesn't want them.

Rosales has also reached out to medical and insurance providers listed in the paperwork.

"These people that are in here right now, all these files, they don't know that they're information is here, not in the clinic's possession anymore."

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