Former Cedars-Sinai employee held in identity theft, fraud

More than 1,000 patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center had their personal information taken by a former employee in the hospital's billing department, according to hospital officials who said prosecutors allege that the man used the identities to steal from insurance companies. The hospital's chief financial officer warned affected patients in a letter sent last week that their information had been found during a search of the former employee's home.