Ex-VA employee sentenced for leaking medical records

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — A former Department of Veterans Affairs employee has been sentenced to six months in prison for leaking the medical records of Richard Ojeda as the former Army major was running for Congress in West Virginia.

Jeffrey Miller of Huntington was sentenced Tuesday in federal court. Miller, 40, acknowledged accessing the medical records of six veterans when he was working for the VA’s benefits administration.

Miller admitting taking a picture of Ojeda’s records, then sending the image to an unnamed acquaintance.

Ojeda has said the records were distributed among high-ranking Republicans to derail his campaign for West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District in 2018. He sued the VA for documents related to the agency’s investigation of Miller.

Ojeda lost to current Rep. Carol Miller. Her spokeswoman has said the congresswoman isn’t related to Jeffrey Miller and that she has never seen the medical records.

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Kassie Simmons
Kassie Simmons joined the team in January 2019 as a weekend journalist. She graduated from Virginia Tech in just two and a half years with a BA in multimedia journalism. During her short time at Virginia Tech, she served as the editor for the university’s chapter of The Tab. Kassie was named the top reporter for The Tab at Virginia Tech on multiple occasions and made the list for the top 30 reporters for The Tab in the U.S. She also studied theater performance and minored in creative writing. Before coming to WOAY, Kassie interned at WSLS in Roanoke and the Tidewater Review in her hometown of West Point, Va. She has loved following breaking news since her childhood and has a passion for delivering the stories people care most about. Kassie is excited to be working in Southern West Virginia and looks forward to all the adventures ahead of her. You can follow her on Twitter at @KassieLSimmons and like her page on Facebook. If you have a story you think she should check out, send her an email at ksimmons@woay.com.