Sharks in the Septic Tank Message Board

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next

To: Neocon who wrote (15624)	6/5/2001 3:23:00 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) of 82486

victimhood A Chicago woman deserves special notice for the way she recently defended herself against charges of wire fraud. She was originally accused of submitting false expense accounts to her employer totaling $244,061 over a three-year period. Leaving aside the issue of how someone can run up that kind of tab, her excuse for the fraud was that "depression" caused her to go on multiple shopping sprees. Shop she did, running up bills averaging $7,500 a month. Mostly she bought expensive jewelry and clothing, but hid most of these purchases from her husband out of an apparent sense of guilt. Periodically she sold the ill-gotten goods at steep discounts to pawnbrokers and resale shops. When the remorse lifted, she went shopping again. The federal judge who heard the case declined to send the woman to prison for what would have been a maximum 18-month sentence and instead ordered five years of probation and community service. He reasoned that prison would interrupt the psychiatric counseling she is receiving. The judge said he was convinced that "the driving force" behind her crime was "chronic depression." The ruling recalls a number of other imaginative defenses, especially the so-called Twinkie Defense, in which the accused claimed an affection for the confection made him do it. Or there is the infamous, if perhaps apocryphal, tale of the young man who killed his parents and then pleaded for sympathy on the grounds that he was an orphan. <Cut and pasted from a Denver Post Editorial.>

Report TOU Violation

Share This Post

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next