Local case on hold against HIV database leak suspect
Published 10:28 am Tuesday, March 5, 2019
A central Kentucky man facing charges in Singapore and U.S. District Court for allegedly leaking personal data will wait before his local criminal trespassing case gets resolved.
Mikhy Farrera-Brochez, 34, is facing criminal trespassing charges in Clark County from an incident in December when he allegedly refused to leave his mother’s property.
Farrera-Brochez, though, was identified by Singapore officials in January as their main suspect in a data leak involving personal information of more than 14,000 people with HIV. Farrera-Brochez’s husband, Dr. Ler Tek Siang, was head of the nation’s National Public Health Unit for a time, according to published reports. Siang also allegedly falsified Farrera-Brochez’s blood test so he could work in Singapore.
In February, Farrera-Brochez was indicted in U.S. District Court in Lexington with unlawful transfer of stolen identification documents and possession with intent to distribute those documents in violation of federal law. Last week, he was charged again in federal court with transmitting threats with the intent to extort and possession a means of identifying other person with the intent of violating the law.
Monday afternoon, Assistant Clark County Attorney David Perdue said Farrera-Brochez is in federal custody. Clark District Judge Charles Hardin continued Farrera-Brochez’s criminal trespassing complaint until July 15 to allow the federal cases to progress.