Each year millions of people fall victim to identity thieves, and the problem is only getting worse. With identity theft rates setting new records year after year, it is no wonder that the courts do not take these cases lightly. Today’s “Fraud of the Day” focuses on an identity thief from New Jersey who will be spending the next 9-18 years of his life behind bars after taking on the identities of two victims.
In September 2014, the fraudster impersonated two people, stealing their identities and compromising their bank accounts. He then proceeded to try to take them for all they had, executing a scheme to defraud, obtain services, property, personal identifying information, and money for his own illegitimate gain. In the end, he ended up pocketing more than $25,000. He was ultimately arrested and charged by Piscataway Detective Daniel Kapsch and detectives from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Our fraudster was convicted by a jury on June 14, 2018 following a two-week trial in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was found guilty of all counts in the indictment – a total of 12. (Maybe he gets his next indictment count free for an even baker’s dozen?) The charges included identity theft, trafficking in personal identifying information, theft by deception and computer theft.
As a result of the guilty conviction, the identity thief was sentenced to 18 years in state prison. According to the prosecutor, the fraudster will have to serve at least nine years of that sentence before he first becomes eligible for parole. (He ends up losing a year of his life in prison for every $1,388 to $2,777 he stole – probably not worth it in retrospect)
Today’s “Fraud of the Day” is based on an article entitled, “Piscataway man gets 18-year prison term for identity theft,” posted on mycentraljersey.com on September 10, 2018.
A Piscataway man has been sentenced to 18 years in state prison for stealing the identities of two people and pocketing more than $25,000 for his personal use.
Hakim Nelson, 32, was sentenced Friday by Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Paone, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey. Nelson must serve at least nine years in custody before becoming eligible for parole.
