Ridiculously long sentence in a fraud case

[Demosthenes]

http://www.indystar.com/article/2013050 ... aud-scheme

An Indianapolis woman was sentenced to 34 years in prison today after allegedly scheming against dozens of people looking to buy vacant homes.

Prosecutors said Shela Amos orchestrated schemes targeting 37 people, making them think she was allowed to sell vacant homes and that they should pay her. Prosecutors said she received $24,000 from her alleged targets, most of whom were Hispanic.

[fortinbras]

I don't think 10 months per victim is excessive.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Two counts of corrupt business influence, two counts of burglary, six counts of forgery and six counts of theft.

This is apparently not her first rodeo - she has a criminal record according to the prosecutor.

And ...

http://www.wbiw.com/local/archive/2013/ ... buyers.php:
Indiana Secretary of State:

"Today, a judge sentenced Shela Amos of Indianapolis to 34 years for defrauding victims using the vacant home sale scheme," said Secretary Lawson. "While this will stop Amos, unfortunately, others are waiting to pick up where she left off. Hoosiers should use extreme caution when dealing with sovereign citizens. They have no regard for the law and are master manipulators."

The vacant home sale scheme is popular among sovereign citizens. At first, they identify abandoned homes and create documents claiming they own the property. Then they have a notary sign the document. They bring the signed document to the Secretary of State's office and request an apostille, a gold seal for overseas authentications, to certify the notary's signature is authentic. After the document has an apostille, they file it with the county recorder's office. Once the document has the seal and is on file with the recorder's office, the scam artists bring prospective home buyers to the recorder's office to show them the document they created as proof they own the real estate they are selling.

[ArthurWankspittle]

None of the articles are as well worded as I would have liked. Did she typically take $24,000 off each of 37 victims? Or was $24,000 all she managed to scam in total? Bit of a difference. Even so, 34 years seems on the heavy side or is this state just predisposed to this sort of sentence?

[Unidyne]

Once she gets access to the prison law library, she'll find a new hobby (and a longer sentence).

[Judge Roy Bean]

None of the articles are as well worded as I would have liked. Did she typically take $24,000 off each of 37 victims? Or was $24,000 all she managed to scam in total? Bit of a difference. Even so, 34 years seems on the heavy side or is this state just predisposed to this sort of sentence?

I don't believe the judge was influenced by the seemingly small amount she personally wound up with. The trail of damage in these kinds of situations is hard to quantify, but I would submit the identifiable victims were not the only ones who wound up spending inordinate amounts of time and money cleaning up the mess she and her cohorts caused.

Even without delving into her criminal record, I would have to say her being a serial criminal offender played a part in the sentence, and the fact that people of her socioeconomic status seem to be lured into these schemes rather easily lends credence to the idea of sending a message to potential copycats.