Dept. Of Revenue Employee Charged With Illegally Searching Info On Her Ex

June 20, 2013

A Florida Department of Revenue employee has been arrested on a felony computer crimes warrant charging her with illegally using a state computer computer system to look up information about her ex-husband.

Amanda Pritchett, age 34 of South Pine Barren Road, McDavid, was charged under a state property crimes statute that prohibits accessing a computer system without authority. She was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

Pritchett was employed by the Department of Revenue and worked at Children and Family Services as a Revenue Specialist II working with Child Support Enforcement. As part of her job, she had signed paperwork outlining how the computer system was to be used only for official business, according to an arrest report.

It was discovered that she had used the computer system in 2012 to conduct a search on her ex-husband using his social security number when his employer, a Pensacola car dealership, received an Employee Information Verification Letter from Children and Family Services.  The envelope had no Children and Family Services markings and had a return address of a post office box in Cantonment. The form also instructed the car dealership to return the completed form to Amanda Pritchett at a Cantonment post office box, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

The human resource director at the car dealership made contact with DCF Child Support Enforcement.  A review by the DOR discovered Pritchett’s actions, and she was released from employment with the agency, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

A log of Pritchett’s internet history showed the inappropriate computer access, according to investigators.

Comments

23 Responses to “Dept. Of Revenue Employee Charged With Illegally Searching Info On Her Ex”

  1. Kim on June 24th, 2013 4:48 pm

    Some of you need to stop acting like she did not do anything wrong. Fact is she did. She signed her name to it. She has kids and should have a little sense not to do anything like this on her job. Dang people out here are looking for jobs and she screwed hers up. It does not matter if he pays support or not. You need to handle things the legal way. If not in the end it does not pay off. He is probably setting back laughing at her and I would not blame him. This reminds to of the young man that stole the car in Pensacola then could not drive it. Get for real here people.

  2. single parent on June 21st, 2013 11:20 pm

    As a single parent that has a father in the system ordered to pay child support. That lives 10min away that does not receive a penny. That has turned in his work place home address tag number and current picture but doesn’t receive a dime. I understand her actions

  3. David Huie Green on June 21st, 2013 8:40 pm

    “Innocent until proven guilty”

    But unemployed without pay in the mean time

  4. Not an excuse on June 21st, 2013 8:20 pm

    @ No Excuses……”I work for the DOJ and I have to sign documents outlining what I may and may not do on our computers every year.”

    So does Eric Holder…..

  5. chris1 on June 21st, 2013 10:44 am

    Innocent until proven guilty

  6. Parent on June 21st, 2013 6:09 am

    The hiring of a attorney is not affordable for most single parents.This is probably a case where child support was not being paid. This is about the system, if it worked more parents would get the financial support needed to raise their children, instead only a select handful get support. If the DOR can’t push a button on a computer that gives them info on the other parent, very little gets done. The legal system needs to crack down on the self employed.

  7. Dennis on June 21st, 2013 5:52 am

    Whether what she did was because the system wasn’t working on the civil side doesn’t give her the right to break a criminal law. Been thru this type thing. Her ‘not thinking right’ has cost her her occupation. Knocking her or the system isn’t going to help anything.

  8. Brandi on June 20th, 2013 8:34 pm

    I feel so bad for everyone involved. I went to school with this woman and she is a very kind person. Instead of bashing her, for what her mistakes have been, we should pull together and support her. She does have children and though she did do something wrong, they still are her kids. They view this site, I’m sure…we do live in an internet world. I know what it is like to see some nasty comments about my parents on the internet and I can only imagine what these kids must be going through. We need to pray for her and her kids to get through this. We are all humans and we are all guided by human instinct and impulse. What she did was wrong, but what does saying mean things about her accomplish. In the bible, it says “he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” I know I won’t be casting any stones. We wake up every day a product of sin. We are a community that needs to pull together when something happens instead of hurting one another. Take my opinion as that, an opinion and know that Amanda, I am praying for you and your family!

  9. dont judge on June 20th, 2013 6:42 pm

    @ No Excuses

    Do you know what the paper work was that was sent? You work for DOJ not DOR. I’m betting it was a financial affidavit for his employer to fill out. Just like the one DOR told me I could send to my ex’s place of employment. Without their help. I don’t have money for a lawyer so they told me how to do things myself. I’m guessing if you knowthe ins and out of your DOJ job you could do things yourself. Without a lawyer. I work for B.OCC

  10. No Excuses on June 20th, 2013 6:24 pm

    @ don’t judge:

    I see nothing in the article that says she did this because of needing anything for her kids. What I see is a criminal act to figure out what her ex-spouse was up to, and a request for information from his employer that she was trying to obtain illegally. She needs to go through the proper channels if that is what she was doing. I’m more inclined to think she was “checking him out”.

    I work for the DOJ and I have to sign documents outlining what I may and may not do on our computers every year. She KNEW what she was doing was illegal since she’s required to acknowledge that she knows what she can and cannot do.

    Many bloggers on here are blasting the system. That’s not what this article is about – it’s about a person who used a position of public trust to commit illegal activities. You go to jail for that if you’re not careful!

  11. dont judge on June 20th, 2013 5:30 pm

    Don’t judge this lady. I have been going through D.O.R. for over a year now. Trying to get things rolling. The letter that was mail to his employer. I was informed by DOR that I could send the exact same letter to my ex. Remember in today’s world all you have to do is accuse someone and their guilty. No matter if they did it or not. Everyone assumes she abused her power. I’m betting theres more to this story. A lot more. So remember. Don’t judge someone with only one side of the story. You wouldn’t like it if it was you or your family.

  12. No Excuses on June 20th, 2013 2:24 pm

    @Cousin:

    I work for the DOJ and I have computer access. I went through a nasty divorce in 2002 and could have done any number of illegal things with the computer, but didn’t because I knew I would end up in a federal prison instead of working at one. She should have gone through her attorney or hired one to help her get what she needed. She opted for the cheap, and illegal way, and now has to pay the piper a lot more than if she had done it the right way to begin with. Divorce can make you crazy, but what she did was wrong and she knew it.

  13. Mom on June 20th, 2013 12:20 pm

    She was probably doing the job that someone else should’ve been doing. The process is slow and tedious with DOR and some, myself included, have been waiting years for that department to do its job and do it RIGHT. She broke the rules, yes, but her intent may not have been malicious.

    Btw, she did not commit mail fraud by mailing someone something.

  14. cousin on June 20th, 2013 10:42 am

    Really??? Our state attorney’s office is waisting money charging someone for looking up information???
    WOW –
    sure she should not have utilized her sources at the D.O.R but who hasnt in some way used some pull with their job.
    Now she has a felony charge for trying to get information.
    Perhaps he owes child support – which is not a felony- thats a whole nother issue with our legal system.

  15. David Huie Green on June 20th, 2013 10:33 am

    CONSIDERING:
    “I have the same issues with my Ex. Even after the courts have sided with me time and time again, the Ex still acts dumb and keeps causing drama.”

    Remember, she may NOT be acting.
    Some live for the drama.

    AND
    “This story makes me sick actually, there are legal ways to get information without abuse of power.“

    All the real power of government resides in the hands of the clerks.
    Try not to make them mad at you.

    David for safe actions

  16. Ex-Husband on June 20th, 2013 10:13 am

    There’s no excuse for what this woman did, but anyone who has gone through a divorce knows it will make you do some crazy things. Thinking she may have been on the short end of the proceedings, this woman probably became really desperate.
    I can relate, because my wife walked out on me while I was deployed to the middle east in 2006. She took our child and everything she wanted from the home, because she found a “man” who could spend time with her and take care of her on a full time basis. I was crazy about her and our daughter. I thought about doing a lot of foolish things. In the end, my family, friends, lawyer, and mostly the USAF helped me get turned in the right direction. My commander secured an assignment a long way from Eglin AFB. It was a struggle at first, but now I have a relationship with my child and a woman in my life who understands that in certain lines of work you have to be away from the home a while. I don’t know the details of Ms Pritchett’s situation, but my heart goes out to her. Please try to put this behind you and move on with your life.

  17. Duke of Wawbeek on June 20th, 2013 9:21 am

    When she placed that letter in the mailbox to her ex husbands employer she committed mail fraud. She is lucky the federal authorities opted not to prosecute.

  18. Momma of 3 on June 20th, 2013 8:32 am

    I am in total shock!!! I would not have thought she would have done something like this. I guess you really don’t know people when you think you do……

  19. mnon on June 20th, 2013 7:19 am

    @Bd, I agree. why can’t an Ex be just that. They won’t let things just be and want to consistently cause drama. I have the same issues with my Ex. Even after the courts have sided with me time and time again, the Ex still acts dumb and keeps causing drama.

    This story makes me sick actually, there are legal ways to get information without abuse of power. Glad she got fired and hope she gets what she deserves for her actions.

  20. Sad on June 20th, 2013 6:58 am

    The really sad thing is, now that she has lost her job, she’ll probably go after her ex-husband “legitimately” for even more.

  21. Parent on June 20th, 2013 5:46 am

    As a custodial parent, there isn’t a lot of positive about the agency. Maybe one day it will be fair, and both parents will equally have to support their children. There are to many loopholes that allow both the paying and non paying parent to get away with not properly caring for their children.

  22. Barbara Agerton on June 20th, 2013 3:15 am

    She must have wanted that information really bad, oh what a relationship can do to a soul, the Human Being, you cant live with them and you cant live without them, oh but tiss life, glad she was caught in time, sad thing is if this information was indeed her business she could have hired a lawyer to handle this for her, gee, I think it would have been a little cheeper, cheep, cheep,……

  23. Bd on June 20th, 2013 1:58 am

    Serves her right. Why can’t an ex just be an ex without all that kind of crap. Don’t know them but he’s probably better off without her!