honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, July 19, 2008

Identity theft gets Marine 5 years

Advertiser Staff

Kane'ohe Bay Marine Cpl. Daniel M. Alfieri has been sentenced to five years in prison for stealing the identities of five fellow Marines while they were deployed to Iraq.

Alfieri, 28, pleaded no contest in April to 22 criminal charges of identity theft, forgery and theft but asked Circuit Judge Randall Lee to defer acceptance of the plea and to sentence him to probation.

Lee on Thursday rejected that motion and ordered Alfieri to serve prison time and pay $975 in restitution to his victims.

Alfieri served two tours of duty in Iraq and was a personal acquaintance of all his victims.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Van Marter earlier called the crimes "despicable" and "the ultimate act of betrayal."

The thefts occurred last summer, when Alfieri used his victims' names to apply for credit cards and then made purchases at restaurants, the base exchange and supermarkets.

The victims include a lieutenant, two sergeants and two corporals. Van Marter said that while on deployment, the victims had to work to straighten out credit problems created by Alfieri's crimes.

Alfieri claimed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress and bipolar disorder.

Van Marter told the judge that Alfieri's scheme "was discovered inadvertently and during its early stages" by one of his victims.

Andrea Garrett, wife of Marine Shawn Garrett, checked on their account at a Navy credit union and discovered "an unfamiliar credit card associated with the account," according to Van Marter.

When she contacted the credit union, she was told that the card had been approved in August 2007 with a $10,000 line of credit and that bills were being sent to an address on Kawailoa Road in Kailua.

She also discovered that the post office had received instructions to redirect personal mail sent to her and her husband to the same Kailua address.

Garrett then contacted the police and the scheme began unraveling, Van Marter said.