12 Years For Internet Auction Fraud
from the lock-'em-up dept
A guy found guilty of defrauding online shoppers out of $100,000 through auctions at Yahoo and eBay has been sentenced to twelve years in jail for the frauds. That's quite a sentence. I'm not against sending a very strong message to people who think they can get away with such scams, but twelve years still seems a bit on the excessive side.
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12 years is "excessive"?
He had been previously convicted of fraud.
According to the article, he defrauded almost 300 additional people after being convicted the first time.
It's obvious that whatever his original sentence was, it wasn't enough to teach him that crime does not pay.
Also, in most states, you get "2 for 1", or one day off your sentence for every day of "good behavior" served, so he will most likely be out in 6 years assuming he doesn't screw up while in jail, and could possibly be out on parole even before that.
If a 12 year sentence convinces the offender to stop this way of life and/or convinces another potential fraudster to not do it, then it's the perfect length for a sentence.
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