URBANA — Urbana police believe that the thief who made off with hundreds of old Carle Clinic X-rays intended for recycling was intent on their silver value, not their informational value.

On Jan. 13, a man who is believed to have done the same thing at other hospitals in Illinois showed up at the clinic’s storage facility on Killarney Drive and picked up 1,300 packets, according to Sgt. Dan Morgan of the Urbana police department.

Carle Clinic spokeswoman Jennifer Hendricks said letters will be sent to those patients affected by the theft informing them of what happened. The X-rays were from 2005 and earlier, she said.

“We do not believe information in the (stolen) material is sufficient for identity theft,” she said.

“I’m pretty sure they don’t care about anyone’s broken tibia but there is some personal information  on the sleeve,” said Morgan. “It’s primarily basic record-keeping information like name, date of birth, address, why is the X-ray being taken, and medical record stuff. It’s not of significant use to an ID thief.” Morgan said there were no Social Security numbers on the films.

“The primary purpose of this might just be for X-ray films, which are recycled for their silver content,” he said.

Morgan said the clinic has a contract with a suburban Chicago company to haul its old X-rays away for recycling.

“The problem (in this case) is you have someone who is familiar with (the company’s) procedures showing up purporting to be a subcontractor of the company with the actual contract. He cons them into giving him the films. He says the right things. He does the right things,” Morgan said.

The thief made off with 17 fifty-gallon barrels that were at a loading dock waiting to be picked up, he said.

Morgan said Carle employees didn’t realize anything was amiss until they noticed that the fake recycler hadn’t left empty barrels in place of the ones he took. They called the company to say they needed more barrels and learned the company hadn’t made a pickup.

“That’s when they figured it out,” Morgan said, adding he learned from the recycling company that a similar scam had been attempted — but not carried out — at medical facilities in Decatur, Taylorville and Freeport.

Carle reported the missing X-rays to Urbana police on Tuesday, Morgan said.

The X-ray recycler is described as a white man, about 6 feet tall, with a goatee and beard combination, around age 30 to 40, possibly with an accent, Morgan said. Although people at the Carle storage facility saw him, they weren’t paying much attention, he said.

“He was also seen at Decatur but they turned him away. That was Jan. 18. Freeport was on Jan. 19,” Morgan said. “He calls ahead to set it up. The other ones he wasn’t successful in getting them. He was here.”

Assuming the thief is successful at recycling the X-rays, Morgan he’d probably get a few hundred dollars — enough to make the crime a felony.
Companies with contracts for X-ray recycling make their money on volume, he said. The nearest recycling facility is in St. Louis, Morgan said.

Anyone who has concerns may call Carle Clinic’s patient relations department at 383-3333.