Fired HR director from Tampa faces 15 years for deleting computer resumes

Medghyne Calonge was fired as human means director from the St. Petersburg place of work of an online accounting organization, but just before security could escort her out, she commenced deleting documents. Heaps of information.

So several documents, in reality, that a federal jury in New York Metropolis found her guilty of accessing a guarded computer and recklessly causing hurt — fees that alongside one another carry a maximum jail expression of 15 decades.

Calonge, 41, of Tampa, was convicted Aug. 16 immediately after a six-working day demo. She is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 2.

According to a news launch from the U.S. Attorney’s Business, Calonge deleted more than 17,000 job apps, resumes and position postings, and inserted profanities into the applicant monitoring process at 1-800Accountant. The enterprise has its headquarters on Madison Avenue in New York and employs additional than 200 persons, an on the web profile claimed. It has an place of work in St. Petersburg’s Carillon Park.

The firm used much more than $100,000 to make the applicant tracking process and it took two decades to make, according to the release. It charge 1-800Accountant more than $100,000 to examine the criminal offense and rebuild the process and it nonetheless hasn’t recovered all the data deleted.

Calonge was employed in January 2019 as head of human assets in the St. Petersburg office environment. After six months on the position, 1-800Accountant fired Calonge for failing to carry out primary task tasks, the information release explained. In a single instance, Calonge downgraded a colleague’s entry to a laptop or computer procedure immediately after the two experienced an argument, the launch mentioned.

After Calonge was informed she was being fired, and right before the enterprise could escort her out of the building, two staff members witnessed her hitting the delete button on her computer system quite a few periods, the release said. About the upcoming two days, she logged into the applicant monitoring technique and continued deleting records.

Calonge’s attorney in New York did not return requests for remark made through e mail Wednesday. Messages could not be remaining on the attorney’s cell phone mainly because the mailbox was entire.

In accordance to her LinkedIn account, Calonge has a bachelor’s diploma in sociology and social perform from the University of South Florida and a master’s degree in business enterprise administration from Saint Leo University. Her profile on one more website claims she now is effective as a Zumba instructor, an Avon natural beauty marketing consultant and a Herbalife diet representative.

The indictment in the case identifies the sufferer only as “Employer 1,” but Erin Vadala, a spokesperson for 1-800Accountant, told the Tampa Bay Situations by way of e-mail Wednesday, “We are informed of the consequence of the demo and are delighted that justice has been served in this situation.”

The business encourages its solutions in tax planning and general accounting to persons and small firms nationwide, giving cellular and desktop entry to accountants, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, and bookkeepers.

“As a unanimous jury located nowadays, Medghyne Calonge deliberately and maliciously induced intense harm to the computers of her previous employer,” Audrey Strauss, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, reported in the information launch. “Now Calonge awaits sentencing for her crimes.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office environment declined to comment more on the scenario Wednesday.