Litigation

Prosecutors expand use of ID theft laws

By Tracy Coenen

by Jack Zemlicka
Wisconsin Law Journal

With the explosion in social networking and business conducted online, it?s easier than ever for a thief to steal someone?s identity.

To fight that, prosecutors are taking a more aggressive approach in how they use Wisconsin?s identity theft laws.

?I think the reason behind that is because the implications of identity theft in the Internet age are so much greater,? said Milwaukee County District Attorney John T. Chisholm. ?I?ve known some prosecutors who have been victimized themselves and it can take years to restore credit.?

But defense attorneys argue that in some instances, misappropriation of identity laws are too broadly used in place of lesser theft charges. A violation of Wis. Stat. sec. 943.201 to include unauthorized use of an individual?s personal identifying information or documents is a Class H felony punishable by up to a $10,000 fine, six years in jail, or both.

Waukesha criminal defense attorney Matthew H. Huppertz said that the punishment may not always fit the crime.

Prior to the rise in identity theft awareness, he said a case where someone swipes a credit card and charges $100 at a store would often result in a misdemeanor theft charge where the offender would pay restitution and a fine.

Now the same crime may result in a felony charge and be pleaded down to a misdemeanor with a more serious sentencing recommendation.

?I think the law is giving prosecutors added leverage,? said Huppertz, of Huppertz & Dorow SC.  ?The days where an 18-year-old kid takes dad?s credit card, goes out and charges something and we can make that go away are not happening much anymore.?

Milwaukee attorney William J. Reddin has also noticed an expanded use of identity theft laws to include things like signing someone else?s name on a check.

In some cases, clients are unaware of the potential that even their one-time action could result in a felony, said Reddin, of Reddin, Singer & Govin LLP.

?Some less serious crimes are now charged as identity theft that otherwise would not have been before,? he said. ?As a result I think clients probably don?t understand how serious some things are and even signing someone else?s name to a check is form of identity theft.?

But that isn?t always the case.

Even though the statute is broad, Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said isolated instances, such as where someone gives a false name or birth date to police, likely wouldn?t be charged as a felony.

He said his office evaluates intent by an offender and damage to a victim, monetary or otherwise, when determining whether a crime warrants felony charges. However, there could be more opportunities to apply the identity theft statute given the rise in people sharing information online.

?We haven?t seen a ton yet, but I think we might see more people falling into that,? Blanchard said. ?If someone has done an Internet search and picked a victim out, to me that is felonious.?

Unique situations are also popping up, such as a case recently referred to Blanchard?s office which involved a man from Michigan who stole the face and body of a Wisconsin man to use on a singles website.

Fraud investigator Tracy L. Coenen, of Sequence Inc. (http://www.sequence-inc.com/) in Milwaukee, said in her experience, people don?t always realize what types of information can put them at risk of identity theft, especially online.

A common security question for online accounts is asking for the accountholder?s mother?s maiden name. If that person has their mother as a friend on Facebook, and she?s using her maiden name in her username, it can lead to problems.

?For Internet thieves, it can be pretty easy to put two and two together,? Coenen said.

Chisholm said that the ease of stealing somebody?s identity means prosecutors must be more vigilant nowadays.

?It?s not just a simple swipe of $100 out of my wallet,? Chisholm said. ?It?s much more akin to the feeling people get when their home is broken into.?

Full post as published by The FRAUDfiles Blog on August 06, 2010 (boomark / email).