Oh boy.
He's going to need a big jar of vaseline soon
Shaun Bridges, the ex-US Secret Service agent who fleeced Silk Road drug dealers during a probe into the cyber-souk, has managed to find a fire hotter than the frying pan he was already inhabiting. Bridges pleaded guilty in a San Francisco court in June, admitting his part in a scam that netted US820,000 in Bitcoins from Silk …
I believe it's an automatic five spot for attempted flight, but the Feds have been steadily increasing the tariff on other charges, so it might be more.
Served consecutively, of course, so almost 11 years of "all expense-paid vacation for one."
I don't believe there is parole for Federal time any longer, IIRC it was eliminated some years ago.
In addition he was going to spend it in a minimum security prison. If they are feeling *very* nasty throwing him into a high security prison (because he's a flight risk) as an ex-agent will be deeply unpleasant for him, despite being a purported martial arts expert.
Taking the 71 months would have been the brighter option, or better still not being a thief in the first place.
"Taking the 71 months would have been the brighter option . . ."
Root of all evil.
In about 6 years, in Fed Med, he WOULD'VE been "free-n-clear" to claim his stash. But, like an idiot, just got greedy. Now he can look forward to a med/high Fed Pen, and at least double the time
Got Vasoline?!
The tech sites Ars Technica and Wired had extensive coverage, including articles about the two Secret Service agents.
The last article on Ars Technica was just a few days ago:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/former-silk-road-staffer-and-victim-in-murder-for-hire-to-serve-no-prison-time/
"So it's interesting, seeing as to how I'm in the US, and there's NO coverage of this whatsoever. It's never been mentioned on Reuters, UPI, AP, CNN, Fox, or anywhere else that there was a flaky SS agent involved in the bust."
On http://www.reuters.com/search/news?blob=%22Shaun+Bridges%22 we find that Reuters has published 13 news stories about Shaun Bridges.
I assume that your statements about the other news organizations are just as accurate as your statement about Reuters. I just couldn't be bothered to look any further.
Being dumb enough to commit these crimes isn't great, but being dumb enough to compound that with trivial mistakes?
Step one - Have, find, manufacture a plausible reason to be in CA.
Step two - Mail the passport to yourself at a top notch hotel in Mexico.
Step three - Cross the border in reverse: if (apparently) millions of Mexicans can do it one direction you can do it in the other.
Step four - Having memorized your corporate account numbers, go to a Mexican bank and withdraw cash.
Step five - Check into the hotel and wait for your passport.
Step six - Flee. Properly.
At no point would you then need to be carrying a packed bag, your passport, or any corporate records. Doing so is just asking to get caught. And I can't imagine he'll do time in minimum security now: It'll be a long journey into hell, with only the certain knowledge that it was self inflicted for comfort.