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Jocelyn Kirsch may be sentenced to 6 years in a Federal prison for her role in a “brazen” identity theft ring. I posted this billso.com article, Philadelphia couple stole neighbors’ identities, on 3 December 2007. She plead guilty yesterday in a Federal courtroom in Philadephia.

She and her ex-boyfriend, Edward K. Anderton, use keys to raid their neighbors’ mailboxes in the Rittenhouse Square building where they lived. 

When investigators searched the couple’s four computers, they found vacation photos, invoices and more evidence that was used against the couple:

The pair deployed an increasingly sophisticated set of schemes to obtain more than $116,000 in goods and services and tried to obtain at least another $122,000 more, prosecutors said.

Anderton had previously plead guilty, and may receive a 5 year sentence on 19 September 2008. Kirsch is scheduled for sentencing on 17 October 2008. Her punishment may be more severe than Anderton’s because she continued to steal identities while she lived in northern California with her mother. Kirsch was waiting for her Philadelphia court dates at the time. 

See this Associated Press article, Student grifter admits $116K fraud in Pa. ID theft, for more information. 

As reported on Yahoo today, a Philadelphia couple used keys to their neighbors’ apartments and mailboxes to finance a massive travel and shopping spree. Jocelyn Kirsch and Edward K. Anderton were charged last Friday with multiple counts of identity theft, fraud, and other crimes. Computer forensics experts will examine hard drives from four computers found in the apartment.

The couple was arrested after they tried to pick up a parcel they had ordered in a neighbor’s name. Police do not know how the couple obtained the keys for their Rittenhouse Square building. However, a search of the couple’s apartment yielded a wide array of evidence, including photos of their travels. Philadelphia Weekly and the Philadelphia Daily News have posted a sample photo.

Related articles on billso.com

15 July 2008: The Philadelphia grifters

As I gear up for the fall semester, this morning’s news bucket brought me two stories about databases.

Local legislator Wll Espero wants to create a registry for violent criminals. It’s similar to registries that track pedophiles and rapists. In dribs and drabs, other Hawaii lawmakers have announced their support. Norman Sakamoto made a statement yesterday, and Clayton Hee spoke up a few days ago.

Databases are not force fields!

The ACLU has pointed out that these registries cannot keep a convicted criminal out of a neighborhood. Privacy concerns take a back seat when momentum builds for “feel-good measures that do not increase public safety”, according to Hawaii ACLU legal director Lois Perrin.

Local supporters of these registries believe these databases will only help them. But what happens when a local government compiles a database that invades the privacy of “upstanding citizens”?

Every couple of months, some local group or politician suggests building toll roads in Honolulu, in place of a train. These efforts are laughable. There’s little space to put new expressways in Honolulu, unless the new lanes are stacked on top of existing highways. That’s a poor idea on a volcanic island. Tunnels won’t work well on an island, either.

New highways only add more cars to our roads

Mass transit makes much more sense. It’s difficult to get across town or find a parking space in Honolulu. Oahu’s economy already suffers from the thousands of cars that flit back and forth to work, home and school with only one or two passengers in each vehicle.

Many mainland toll roads offer electronic tags or E-ZPasses that let drivers travel through an express lane at tool booths. These systems let drivers prepay their tolls and avoid long lines that seem to stretch forever as other drivers fumble for paper money and change. Monthly and online statements let E-ZPass users review their journeys. That’s an excellent aid when filing for corporate reimbursements or income tax deductions. It’s also a great way to monitor fleet drivers.

Chris Newmarker of the Associated Press reported today on a growing trend in divorce cases – subpoena a spouse’s E-ZPass records to see where and when they were driving. When a spouse says they were in Pennsylvania on business but their E-ZPass account shows a tool transaction in New Jersey, credibility flies out the window.

Cheating spouses think no one will notice if they are somewhere else

Some states will not release E-ZPass transaction data to a civil investigation. These logs make excellent evidence in some criminal cases. Melanie McGuire was recently convicted of murdering her husband, cutting up his body, loading the pieces into three suitcases and dumping his remains in the Chesapeake Bay. Prosecutors used her E-ZPass records in court to describe her travels. She could have left her E-ZPass at home and paid cash, of course.

UPDATED 13 August 2007 11:05 HT: Dave Shapiro seems to agree with me.

USA: The Village Voice gives the RNC a great big welcome with a top 10 list of all the ways W screwed New York City:

1. Will any convention speaker dare mention the name of Osama bin Laden? What ever happened to Bush’s cowboy threat to “smoke ‘em” out?
2. Why was Bush so afraid of a 9-11 investigation?
3. Was the Bush team awake in the nine months before the attack?
4. Iraq plus tax cuts adds up to a deficit that will force a second-term squeeze on social programs vital to NYC.
5. Bush did OK on the $20 billion, but he’s still shortchanging us on the edges of the minimal pledge he made to a city whose economy took an $80 billion hit.
6. Senator Schumer says NY doesn’t expect a share of Idaho’s farm subsidies, so why does Idaho take a chunk of NY’s security subsidies?
7. What could be worse than lying to GZ workers and residents about the air they were breathing?
8. Bush has left most New York children behind.
9. Ten thousand NY families are in jeopardy of losing their housing subsidies and homes.
10. With NYC the No. 1 target of bio and nuclear terrorists, the go-it-alone Bush administration has torpedoed international treaties that would make us more secure.

Don’t forget that W won’t stay overnight in New York City next week. He gives his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention next Thursday and then runs like a little girly man to Pennsylvania after the balloons drop.

USA: W will not stay overnight in New York City during the GOP convention. After his acceptance speech, he heads to Pennsylvania. Good choice, W. You’re at least 10 points behind in New York State, and the grand plan to have you at 9/11 ceremonies has been scuttled because the families don’t want you there. People are leaving down to avoid you and your friends.