Staff Sergeant Justin Tollefson, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, Washington, thought that he found a solution for his money problems – he bought the personally identifiable information (PII) of four University of Pittsburgh Medical Center employees on the “Dark Web” and filed for income tax refunds totaling $56,333 in their names. The IRS wasted no time in rolling up on him – he was busted before he got a dime. The IRS calls the crime SIRF – stolen identity refund fraud and they have special units that keep an eye out for it.<\/p>\n
Well, SSG Tollefson pleaded guilty to his crime last April, according to the Justice Department<\/a> and he went to sentencing on Friday, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/a>. He could have been sentenced to 20 years in prison and a million-dollar fine. <\/p>\n He got quite a bit less;<\/p>\n U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak on Thursday said Justin Tollefson, 27, a staff sergeant who joined the Army two weeks after high school and served two tours in Afghanistan, has led an otherwise law-abiding life.<\/p>\n He gave him three years of probation instead of the prison term that the government had asked for as a warning to other “hackers of the world lurking on the dark web,” as Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Melucci put it.<\/p>\n Judge Hornak granted a defense request for leniency.<\/p>\n “If there is an example of aberrant behavior, this is it,” he said. “I think it highly unlikely that you will do anything like this again.”<\/p>\n For his part, Tollefson and his lawyer said he lost his way when he learned that his pregnant wife was having an affair while he served in Afghanistan. Although they remain together and have two children, he said that knowledge drove him to crime.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He didn’t profit from the crime, so the judge went easy on him, that and the fact that the Army is probably going to boot his felonious ass, now.<\/p>\n Thanks to Chief Tango for the links.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"