Nine Years For Identity Theft

Published: Sunday, October 15, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

NINE YEARS FOR IDENTITY THIEF

U.S. fraudster used proceeds of his crime to fund online gambling

Associated Press carried a sequel to an InfoPowa story earlier this year about the uncovering of a U.S. fraudster's criminal activities in stealing identities to fund a penchant for online gambling.

This week, Bloomington Illinois resident Robert Crutchley (32) paid the price for his dishonesty when he was sentenced to nine years in jail by McLean County's Judge Ronald Dozier.

Crutchley swiped the identities of more than 100 central Illinois residents to set up debit accounts with no deposits, which he then used to gamble online, authorities said. Police have said most of his victims were from the Bloomington-Normal area and five were from Clinton.

U.S. Marshals arrested Crutchley in Plano, Texas, on a warrant for two counts of theft by deception.

Crutchley was sentenced to two consecutive sentences, six years on one of the counts and three years on the other. The judge also ordered Crutchley to pay nearly $70 000 in restitution to one of his victims.