200 Months in Prison as Punishment for Identity Theft Leader who Stole from Bernanke
Nearly five months after the admission by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that his family fell victim to criminal identity theft in 2008, one of the ringleaders of the crime ring that orchestrated the identity theft received punishment of more than 16 years in prison.
Forty-nine-year-old Leonardo Darnell Zanders of Dolton, Illinois received 200 months in prison from U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee on January 22 as punishment for identity theft and stealing approximately $1.5 million from at least 10 financial institutions.
Zanders pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in an identity theft case last September following testimony from six of seven witnesses. While in the criminal identity theft ring, Zanders worked to recruit and direct conspirators as they impersonated victims to deposit stolen checks from January 2007 to May 2009.
Last August, Bernanke admitted to Newsweek that his wife had her purse stolen from a chair at a Capitol Hill Starbucks on August 7, 2008.
Nearly one week later, the Bernankes learned that the theft had been connected to a criminal identity theft ring and that one member, George Lee Reid, had allegedly deposited a $900 check from Anne Bernanke's checkbook. The scheme was eventually caught by the Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Service
The chairman's spokeswoman Michele Smith declined to comment on the verdict of the identity theft case, BusinessWeek reported. However, last August, Bernanke acknowledged the danger that identity theft posed to Americans and was grateful he had not been victimized too seriously.
"Identity theft is a serious crime that affects millions of Americans each year," Bernanke said in a statement in August. "Our family was but one of 500 separate instances traced to one criminal identity theft ring. I am grateful for the law enforcement officers who patiently and diligently work to solve and prevent these financial crimes."
During the trial, a co-defendant, Darrell Earl Price, stated that Zanders had given him checks in the name of Ben and Anna Bernanke.
