Two lose jobs after records are lost

AUSTIN — Texas will offer credit monitoring to 1,500 people whose personal information was included in a book of birth records that went missing at least four years ago.

The early 1993 birth records include Social Security numbers of some 500 millennials and their parents, along with dates and places of birth.

Two officials in the state’s Vital Statistics Unit lost their jobs over the missing book, and a third was suspended for three days without pay, according to Carrie Williams, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The missing book was “Volume 45” of an 800-book collection of birth records state officials say are kept in a vault guarded by security cameras and accessible by special key or swipe cards. The health department says officials were not informed of the missing text until early June.

Letters will go out to affected individuals next week,

Williams said.

The Office of Inspector General in July investigated the missing book. State registrar Geraldine Harris was fired July 29 for failing to notify leadership at the Department of State Health Services, the office of inspector general or the privacy office of Texas Health and Human Services, or the Social Security Administration, according to her notice of dismissal.

“I disagree and will … seek appeal,” Harris wrote next to her signature on her dismissal letter.

Knew of loss in 2012

Lonzo Kerr Jr., deputy state registrar, told the inspector general he knew in late 2012 or early 2013 that the birth record book was missing, according to state documents.

According to his notice of possible disciplinary action written by Chief Operating Officer Ed House, Kerr “assumed the book had been found” and “admitted that birth record books go ‘missing frequently’ ” in the Vital Statistics Unit, the letter said.

Kerr offered a rebuttal and said missing books are constantly in use and often found later.

“VSU has more than 60 million records with approximately 120,000 volumes containing birth and death records. On a daily basis VSU staff pulls and return approximately 600 records from hundreds of these volumes daily,” said Kerr in a rebuttal dated Aug. 1. Kerr rejected allegations he did not report the missing book and said teams have conducted several searches for it. Kerr was fired later that day.

Three books currently are missing, he said: two from before 1970 and the 1993 volume. He said the department lacks a written procedure for handling missing vital records.

One is suspended

State officials say the delay in notifying officials of the potential breach of information prevented the state from sending required immediate notification to the U.S. Social Security Administration and people potentially at risk for identify theft.

A third employee, Anna “Chris” Guerrero, was suspended for three days without pay. Guerrero informed her supervisor, Harris, the book was missing in 2013 but failed to report the missing text to other officials at DSHS or HHSC until she was in a meeting with State Health Service’s deputy general council to complain about her boss.

“The fact that you kept documentation pertaining to this incident in your desk drawer for three years indicates that you knew this was a serious matter, and suggests that you were keeping it in reserve to use when it might best suit your interests,” read a letter of discipline from House.