Reference no: EM133388312

Twenty-year-old Davis Omole had good grades in high school, where he played on the football and chess teams and went on to college. Omole worked at a cell phone store where he stole customers' personal information. He used the stolen identities to create a hundred different accounts on eBay and held more than three hundred auctions listing for sale items that he did not own (including cell phones, plasma televisions, and stereos). From these auctions, he collected $90,000. To avoid getting caught, he continuously closed and opened eBay accounts, activated and deactivated cell phone and e-mail accounts, and changed mailing addresses and post office boxes. Omole, who had previously been convicted in a state court for Internet fraud, was convicted in a federal district court of identity theft and wire fraud. [United States v. Omole, 523 F.3d 691 (7th Cir. 2008)]

Omole could have been imprisoned for more than eight years under federal sentencing guidelines. He received only three years, two of which comprised the mandatory sentence for identity theft. Was this sentence too lenient? Explain.