Finally, Someone Lays A Heavy Hand on Identity Theft
The Punishment Fits the Identity Theft Crime
The thing that frustrates us the most (those of us concerned about identity theft) is that criminals seem to get away with it with little more than a slap on the wrist. What's to stop the crime from occurring if the punishment isn't severe? Well my friends, we have something to celebrate this week. It seems that someone is finally making identity theft criminals pay for their crimes.
Probably Thought He'd Get Away With It
When Gregory Kopiloff was stealing people's identities over P2P networks, he probably thought he'd get away with it - or if caught that he'd pay minimal penalties. Boy, was he in for a rude awakening.
Kopiloff plead guilty to identity theft charges (thinking he'd get a reduced sentence, I'm sure) and was hit with a whopping 51 months in prison. Not only that, but once he gets out of prison he faces three years of supervision. Finally, the judges are doing something right in the world of identity theft.
Setting the Tone
Kopiloff is the first person to be indicted with a P2P network identity theft crime in the United States. It looks like the court made a wonderful example of him. Now criminals know if they steal identities using P2P networks, they face serious jail time.
Let's Hope They Keep It Up
I must applaud this sentence, but I'm doing so with reservation. Prosecutors indicated that they wanted a heavier sentence for this criminal because of the "advanced" methods he used to defraud people of their identities. I guess the mundane "steal your mail" methods deserve lighter sentences?
Let's hope that all identity theft criminals face sentences of at least 4 years, if not more, for their disgusting crimes.