Perpetrators of crime have many faces. They roam the streets of our cities and towns or emerge from suburban neighborhoods or inhabit corporate boardrooms. For every crime there is a victim and those victims live in those same cities and towns or suburban neighborhoods, or may work within those same corporations.

Crimes like assault leave physical scars, but economic crimes leave psychological welts that require different remedies. Identity theft is one of those crimes and it is past time to help those victims by going after the thieves who prey upon law-abiding citizens. Reported instances of this crime doubled in 2002, turning the lives of 7,000 Floridians upside-down.

On Wednesday, Governor Bush and I had the pleasure of honoring the Crime Victims’ Advocate and the Criminal Justice Officer of the Year during a ceremony highlighting Crime Victims Week. The keynote speaker for the program was Phyllis Samowitz, who powerfully tells her personal horror story of an identity theft victim. Phyllis and her husband have spent many months trying to retrieve their good names after thieves stole their personal information and ran up significant charges on their accounts. It should not be this difficult.

We need to make it easier for people like Phyllis and her husband by making it much more costly for the thieves. Currently, those who are caught stealing another’s identity are normally charged with misdemeanors according to Florida law. The penalty does not fit the crime.

I have proposed a new law to make identity theft of more than $20,000 a second-degree felony, while the looting of more than $100,000 would become a first-degree felony carrying a 30-year maximum prison sentence. A conviction of a second-degree felony would carry a maximum prison sentence of 15 years. The intent is to create a meaningful deterrent, causing potential thieves to think twice before preying on innocent people.

The Legislature is supportive. Rep. Leslie Waters is sponsoring a bill in the House while Sen. Victor Crist and Sen. Dave Aronberg are sponsoring Senate legislation. Four legislative committees have unanimously approved strengthening the laws that govern identity theft.

Along with our Legislative Affairs team, Statewide Prosecutor Peter Williams is leading our communications with the Legislature. The Statewide Prosecutor works closely with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, as well as local law enforcement and state attorneys, to arrest and prosecute these crimes.

The Statewide Prosecutor also provides on-line information on prevention techniques and steps to take if a Floridian becomes a victim of identity theft.

I could not put the necessity of this legislation any better than did the Tampa Tribune in an editorial on March 7, 2003: “Identity theft might be considered a white-collar crime, but its effect on victims can be as devastating as an armed robbery.”

They are talking about people like Phyllis Samowitz and it could just as easily be me or you, or your family, or your neighbors, or your colleagues.

It is time that identity thieves pay for the damage they are creating.



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