There are times when I read of people who have been convicted and I wonder how good people got caught up in a crime and ended up with unfortunate consequences. Often, as an ethics speaker, I have said that – Every Choice Has A Consequence. That is a true statement. And at times it is true that otherwise good people make bad choices and find out the hard way about the consequences that follow. But in this case – well read for yourself.
According to the US Attorney’s office: Levander Carlton McLean, 66, and his wife, Rita Murphy McLean, 45, of Garland, Texas, were convicted by a federal jury following a three-day trial on conspiracy to unlawfully use identification documents. They each face a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution. They are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Kinkeade on December 3, 2008.
The government presented evidence at trial that in July 2001, Levander and Rita Murphy McLean were able to convince their nephew, a Texas Department of Public Safety driver’s license technician, to make them a fraudulent Texas driver’s license and a fraudulent Texas identification card in the names of two innocent people living in North Carolina and South Carolina. The McLeans used these identification documents, as well as a fraudulent Michigan driver’s license that Rita McLean obtained in the name of an innocent Texas resident, to open several fraudulent bank accounts in Dallas, Michigan, and North Carolina.
From 2002 through 2004, the McLeans deposited more than $200,000 in proceeds from more than 130 false federal income tax returns, which had been filed in the names of real taxpayers using stolen W-2s, into these fraudulent accounts.