Police Arrest Suspected Medical Laptop Thief

ALHAMBRA (CBSLA.com) — Police say they have arrested transient suspected of stealing a two laptops from an Alhambra hospital containing the personal health information of thousands of Southern California patients.

Christopher Lee Brown, who also went by the name of Allen Marcous, was seen on security video stealing the laptops from the main campus of AHMC Healthcare Inc. in Alhambra on Oct. 12. Hospital officials did not realize the two laptops were missing until two days later.

The two password-protected laptops contained personal health information for about 729,000 patients treated at six AHMC hospitals throughout Southern California. Hospital officials say only the patients on Medicare were at risk.

Police say Brown had a girlfriend who worked at the offices and many employees knew him.

Its not known if the laptops have been recovered.