Benton County accidentally releases confidential information

BENTON COUNTY - The Benton County Attorney's Office may have violated federal law when officials released confidential information of more than 500 Iowans whose driver's licenses were suspended earlier this year.

Assistant Benton County Attorney Jo Nelson accidentally gave a Vinton man a 40-page document that included his personal information and the information of hundreds of other Iowans facing license suspension. Addresses and driver's license numbers - both protected by federal law - were not redacted.

'I'm very disappointed this happened and I'm taking steps to make sure it never happens again,” Benton County Attorney David Thompson said Friday.

Thompson doesn't think prosecutors provided the confidential information to any other drivers, but his staff is auditing court records to make sure. He has also reported the incident to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The Iowa Department of Transportation provides county attorney offices a report from the U.S. Postal Service to prove the DOT sent notices of driver's license suspensions, said Kathy McLear, records manager for the DOT's Office of Driver Services. Prosecutors often use the information if a license suspension goes to court, she said.

'The County Attorney is getting that information for their use internally, ”McLear said. 'They're not supposed to pass it out.”

Driver information, including addresses and driver's license numbers, are protected by the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994. The law was passed after the 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer by a stalker who got her address from driver's license records. Around that same time, abortion doctors and patients were targeted at home by abortion opponents.

Iowa Code Section 321.11 allows the DOT to provide the confidential records to a court and law enforcement agency for use 'in carrying out its functions”, but those agencies are prohibited from releasing the records unless they have permission from the people whose information is included in the report.

Nelson gave the report to the Vinton man, who does not wish to be named, in August when he went to court to fight his license suspension.