Alleged hospital peeper indicted

LOS ANGELES, April 30 (UPI) -- A former UCLA Medical Center employee was indicted in Los Angeles for allegedly selling confidential patient information to the media, court papers show.

Lawanda Jackson faces 10 years in prison if convicted, TMZ.com reported.

The federal indictment didn't specify which celebrity patients Jackson allegedly sold information about, the entertainment news Web site said.

The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month that Jackson, a former hospital administrative specialist, is said to have looked without permission at the records of 60 patients, including California first lady Maria Shriver and actress Farrah Fawcett.

"It was just me being nosy," Jackson, 49, told the newspaper.

"I didn't leak anything or anything like that," insisted Jackson, who had worked at the hospital since she was 16. "It wasn't for money or anything. It was just looking."

The medical center took steps last May to terminate Jackson's employment for snooping but she quit before she could be fired, the Times said.

Numerous UCLA employees could be fired or disciplined for reading the private files of former patient Britney Spears in a separate incident this year.