PROVIDENCE — A former Rhode Island Hospital security guard was arrested yesterday by Secret Service agents on charges that he stole identity information from emergency room patients.

Michael Bermudez, 26, of Regent Avenue, Providence, then used the information to open cell phone and charge accounts, according to a statement yesterday from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The federal complaint also charges the manager of a RadioShack store in Cranston for allegedly playing a role in opening accounts at the store.

Bermudez and Hector Alvarez, 29, of Sisson Street, Providence, a RadioShack manager, are charged with conspiracy, identity theft and trafficking in unauthorized access devices — all felonies and subject to grand jury review.

Both men appeared yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond. No plea was entered. Almond released Alvarez on an unsecured bond. Bond was set for Bermudez, but because he is wanted in New York for a parole violation, he was not released.

Robert Valerio, 25, a clerk at the Cranston Radio Shack, was also charged. He is believed to be in the Dominican Republic. An arrest warrant has been issued for Valerio, formerly of Thackery Street, Providence.

According to an affidavit, a collection agency sought payment of a RadioShack credit card debt of $1,632 from a person who had been a patient at Rhode Island Hospital. The former patient filed a complaint with the Cranston police, saying he never opened the account. The patient also found out a cell phone account had been opened in his name at the Garfield Avenue RadioShack store and that it had an outstanding balance of $1,353.

Secret Service agents found several people who had bought what they thought were pre-paid cell phones for $50 each, and that a man named “Mike,” who was a Rhode Island Hospital security guard, was selling the phones. The phones stopped working about two weeks after people bought them, the statement said.

According to the affidavit, since summer 2006, Bermudez had been going to the Cranston RadioShack every few weeks with people’s personal information. With the help of Valerio, Alvarez or another person, Bermudez opened cell phone accounts in other people’s names, activated phones for those accounts and then attempted to sell the phones, the release said.

Bermudez would arrive at the store in hospital security guard uniform, according to the affidavit, with identity information written on slips of paper. A Secret Service agent found that Bermudez had worked second shift in the hospital’s emergency room and had access to all emergency room areas.

The security guard company fired Bermudez in February for reasons not directly related to the charges, the statement said.

mmckinne@projo.com