Finally Some Identity Theft Justice
A Judge Lays Down The Identity Theft Law
We're so used to hearing stories about identity theft criminals getting nothing more than a slap on the hand, it isn't hard to understand why these crooks aren't worried about committing the crime. After all, no one's doing the time -- right? Wrong! A Maryland judge had finally had enough of the identity theft shenanigans and the justice system finally prevails.
What a Crook
It's bad enough when someone commits identity theft, but it's even more despicable when they use the identity of a child. Yes, a child was just one of the victims of Ronald Steven Williams II. He used the kid's identity to buy a house. Pretty sick (but it also makes you wonder why wasn't the mortgage company more on the ball).
A house wasn't the only thing Mr. Williams bought using other people's identities. The cretin racked up tens of thousands of dollars in debt using social security numbers belonging to other people.
The Strong-Arm of the Law
So, did Mr. Williams get a slap on the hand like so many other identity theft criminals do? Nope. The judge came to the rescue and sentenced the crook to six years in jail along with a penalty of $120,000 in restitution. There is, however, still room for improvement. After all, he was originally facing a maximum sentence of 30 years and $1 million for each count of bank fraud.
Regardless of how much time we think Mr. Williams should do for the identity theft he committed, the fact that he's doing time at all is an improvement over many recent identity theft sentences. All we can do is hope other judges take the lead from here and impose stiffer sentences, more jail time and higher fines for identity theft crimes.