Former Head of HR Faces 15 Years in Prison for Deleting Company Files and Over 17K Resumes After She Was Fired

A former head of human resources at 1-800-Accountant took petty to another level after the firm fired her for poor performance.

Medghyne Calonge, 41, of Tampa, Fla., was fired in June 2019 after only six months at the New York-based online accounting firm due to poor performance, according to federal authorities. Prosecutors noted one instance in which she improperly locked a coworker out of a computer system after getting into an argument.

Coworkers say that they witnessed Calonge constantly hitting the delete button as she was fired over the phone.

After being escorted out of the firm’s St. Petersburg, Fla. office, prosecutors say she then logged into an outside computer system, which the firm used to manage its job applications, erased all 17,000 resumes, and left profanity notes on all of the files.

“Medghyne Calonge intentionally and maliciously caused severe damage to the computers of her former employer,” said Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “Her actions wiped out information vitally important to the employer company and cost the company money and time to repair.”

After a six-day trial in New York, Calonge was convicted of 2 counts of damaging computers and faces 15 years in jail.