(AP) -- South Carolina's top prosecutor is taking over the case of a former state Health and Human Services agency employee accused of stealing personal information about hundreds of thousands of Medicaid patients.
Attorney General Alan Wilson said Monday his office would take over the case because Christopher Lykes is related to someone at the local solicitor's office.
Lykes was arrested last month and charged with stealing personal information from more than 228,000 South Carolina Medicaid patients.
The former project manager is charged with five misdemeanor counts of violating the confidentiality of medical indigents and one count of disclosing confidential information. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
State police didn't know if Lykes had an attorney. There was no answer Monday at a phone listed for him.
(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
