Florida Worker Denies Leaking AIDS Patient List
A state health worker denied Friday that he is responsible for leaking a secret list of nearly 4,000 AIDS patients that was mailed to two newspapers.
“Somebody knows what I do and used my name, I would suggest, as a personal vendetta,” said William B. Calvert III, who is on paid leave pending a state Health and Rehabilitative Services Department investigation.
The list, on a computer disk, was sent anonymously to the Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times, with a letter saying Calvert dropped it after showing it to friends at a gay bar.
Calvert, one of three workers with access to the list, said he took it out of the office for field work and it was stolen.
The letter and disk also were sent to the Pinellas County Health Department, where Calvert is based, said an HRS spokeswoman. All three disks have been turned over to law enforcement, she said.
On Friday, HRS barred workers from removing confidential AIDS information from offices and ordered a review of procedures.
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