Sunday, December 04, 2005

Alberta judge: Conditional sentence not sufficient for card skimmer

In a recent judgement, R. v. Naqvi, 2005 ABPC 339, the Associate Chief Judge of the Alberta Provincial Court has sentenced a convicted card-skimmer to eighteen months in prison. The accused worked in two gas stations and skimmed cards using equipment provided by a high-school acquaintance. He was paid $100 per card he skimmed, for a total of $17,000.

In rejecting the call for a conditional sentence, the judge said:

To describe him as a minor participant is akin to describing a bank robber as a low level participant, and the driver of the getaway vehicle as the primary offender. Without the gathering of information by the accused, and its distribution to his criminal acquaintance, the criminal enterprise that resulted from his participation would not have been possible.

Hopefully this will send a message ...

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