530.5s should be punishable by death

[Mr310]

Any case that requires this much paper and work should never be 1170 nothingness at best.

And now back to your regular programming.


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[JJ1911]

As a probation officer, I agree that something like this should be far more than a simple 1170h sentence.

[Lonestargrizzly]

Identity theft?

[Armed24-7]

Any case that requires this much paper and work should never be 1170 nothingness at best.

And now back to your regular programming.


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I am surprised George Gascon has not refused to prosecute those cases citing inequality as a reason.

[bridgeway]

How big is the scheme? Big financial loss? Possibly linked to other ID theft activity in other jurisdictions? Feds (FBI, Secret Service, IRS-CI, Postal Inspectors) would likely gladly take a referral. At the fed level, 18 USC 1028A (agg. ID theft) is a mandatory two years served consecutively after anything else, wire fraud in most cases. Depending on loss amount you could have the ringleaders getting 3-5 years for wire fraud plus the mandatory two for ID theft and they have to serve 85% of their sentence.

[18sam2011]

Having worked economic crimes for the last 5 years, I’ve only ever had one of my cases actually prosecuted at a federal level, and that was the USPIS on an auto fraud/mail fraud case where the suspect had numerous fraud/ID theft priors. With that said, I agree that a lot of high dollar loss/major fraud cases should be federally prosecuted but good luck getting a fed to take it and actually get it prosecuted (at least here in OC).

Anyways, even though it is an 1170 sentence, I’ve still gotten some good time on my suspects for some of my major cases. Especially if the suspect has strike priors and the case can be filed with the white collar crime enhancements.

[Mr310]

How big is the scheme? Big financial loss? Possibly linked to other ID theft activity in other jurisdictions? Feds (FBI, Secret Service, IRS-CI, Postal Inspectors) would likely gladly take a referral. At the fed level, 18 USC 1028A (agg. ID theft) is a mandatory two years served consecutively after anything else, wire fraud in most cases. Depending on loss amount you could have the ringleaders getting 3-5 years for wire fraud plus the mandatory two for ID theft and they have to serve 85% of their sentence.

[bridgeway]

Unless it is a famous person, politician, or other prominent member of the community whose indictment will garner significant media attention, a good rule of thumb is:

$550,000 loss - the US Attorney will MAYBE be interested

$1,500,000+ loss - the US Attorney will DEFINITELY be interested

From a fed perspective, the reason for this is due to the thresholds for months in prison on the federal sentencing guidelines. At $550,000 you're looking at around 24 months (but probably less). At $1,500,000 its more like 40 months. Also, pretty much all US Attorney's Offices have major turnover issues because (my opinion) the USAO job is not really seen as a career. People do it for 3-5 years to get trial experience before they jump ship for a private law firm where they can bill $1,000 per hour.

It is frustrating for us feds too, we can find a great case and if the loss doesn't pan out, they will just close it down and kill it... I can't tell you how many people got a $100,000 PPP loan and then went straight to a car dealership and bought a Mercedes. But since the loss is "too low" they will never be held accountable. I wish the CARES Act had included a provision for state/local LE to prosecute folks for fraud.