By Greg Grisolano

news@joplinglobe.com

PITTSBURG, Kan. — The Crawford County attorney’s office says it will not press charges against a former Pittsburg State University employee accused of stealing a co-worker’s identity, and using it to harass her with spam e-mail, credit-card applications and unwanted pornography.

Rebecca Viney, the victim of the identity theft, said she is more than disappointed with the decision.

“Disappointment doesn’t capture what I’m feeling; frustration doesn’t capture it,” said the administrative assistant in the Kelce College of Business at PSU. “To know that we have the person, with a signed confession, and be told he’s gotten away with it, how would you feel?”

But Brian Duncan, assistant Crawford County attorney, said state statutes don’t cover the situation in which Viney found herself after the co-worker allegedly stole her Social Security number and other personal information, and began inundating her with unwanted mail.

“It’s unfortunate, but it just doesn’t fit under any of the statutes we have,” Duncan said. “Unfortunately, the Legislature just doesn’t keep up with technology. They’re at a point now where they haven’t covered what harassing e-mails would fall under.”

Under state law, harassment by telephone is a Class A misdemeanor. The statute is strictly limited in scope and does not cover unwanted calls by third parties that were initiated under false pretenses.

The co-worker in Viney’s case resigned from PSU shortly after he confessed. Because he was never charged with a crime, his identity is not part of the public record.

In a previous interview with the Globe, Viney said she had spent months sending registered letters to put an end to all the phone and e-mail solicitations.

Duncan said the missing link in the case is the lack of direct monetary benefit. The act of taking a person’s personal information is not a crime unless it then is used for a monetary benefit to the perpetrator, he said.

“One main element is that he has to have done this to receive some kind of economic benefit,” Duncan said. “As near as I can tell, it doesn’t look like he received any economic benefit.”

Viney’s husband, PSU professor Donald Viney, said he doesn’t see the difference between the statute and what happened to his wife.

“In terms of harm done, the kind of harassment that’s involved (in the statute) seems quite equal to what Rebecca experienced,” he said. “We’ve got laws on the books that make sure this kind of harm isn’t done to people.”

Rebecca Viney agreed.

“I don’t see the difference between the perpetrator doing it himself and him causing someone else to do it for him,” she said. “That’s a huge loophole that needs to be fixed.”

For Duncan, the decision not to press charges comes down to a constitutional issue.

“Before you commit a crime, you have to be put on notice that what you are about to do is a crime,” he said. “That’s why before you enter a construction zone, they say ‘construction zone, double fines’ so that you’re on notice that what you’re about to do will cost you more than just speeding.”

Rebecca Viney said she also was frustrated by the pace of the proceedings. In February, more than two months after Pittsburg police identified the suspect and sent the case to the county attorney’s office in Girard, the files were misplaced and had to be resubmitted.

“I don’t have any complaint with the way (Pittsburg) police handled it,” she said. “My frustration came in when I found out the paperwork got lost somewhere.”

Duncan said he also is frustrated by the outcome.

“I think it’s unacceptable behavior, and I think society would tell us that,” he said. “Things like this, they frustrate me. I see something that needs to be corrected, and yet I don’t have the tools to correct it. You want to be able to do something, but a judge would throw this out and then chide me for even causing it to be on the docket.”

While he did not rule out the possibility of Viney pursuing civil action, Duncan said that with no criminal charges to file, his office can take no further action.

“The matter is dead at this time,” he said. “We’ll keep this in a file and make sure it isn’t misplaced.”

Rebecca Viney said that after meeting with Duncan on Monday night to discuss the case, she will try to put the incident behind her.

“I’m going to go home and ask God to help me let it go,” she said. “There’s not going to be any more steps for me, as far as legal. I’m going to have to be satisfied with the knowledge that he (the alleged identify thief) has lost his job.”





Theft consequences



Rebecca Viney said she no longer receives annoying phone calls, but she still gets junk e-mail daily as a result of the theft of her identity.