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Posted: 3:58 PM- Frustrated that he has no power to make identity thieves pay for the time victims spend restoring their good credit records, a federal judge in Utah is calling for reform of restitution laws.
In a memorandum issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell notes that federal statutes limit the kinds of losses that offenders can be ordered to repay. Lost time, a precious commodity, falls outside the covered categories, the judge wrote.
"Congress has recently acted to punish aggravated identity theft severely by creating mandatory minimum sentences for the crime," Cassell wrote. "But while these changes strongly deter such crimes, they, unfortunately do nothing to fully compensate the victims who suffer from such crimes."
Cassell said the Judicial Conference, which makes policy concerning the federal court administration, recently agreed to support legislation that would authorize judges to award restitution at their discretion when circumstances warrant it. He encouraged lawmakers to follow up.
The judge's comments stem from the case of Ruby Teresa Garcia, who investigators say obtained others' personal information by stealing mail and burglarizing vehicles. She then allegedly used the data to get fraudulent credit cards, which she sold or used to buy merchandise over the Internet.
Garcia pleaded guilty last month to two counts of aggravated identity theft. She was sentenced by Cassell to a mandatory sentence of two years in prison and ordered to pay $6,839 to two banks.
Then came the question of how much to pay a victim, called H.F. in court records. The charges on the fraudulent credit cards were covered by the bank but H.F. - a wife and mother who works outside the home - also suffered considerable damage, according to Cassell.
He said H.F., whose car was vandalized and purse stolen one morning while she was at a gym, spent considerable time and energy straightening out her credit record. In addition to replacing her stolen cards, she had to deal with the fraudulent charges and close a checking account.
"Finally and most importantly, H.F. suffered a loss of what she called her 'most precious thing' - her free time," Cassell wrote.
But he was powerless to require payment for all those hours spent untangling the mess, he said, because the legal limits on restitution "unfairly tie the hands of judges in crafting restitution orders."
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