In a California federal court on Monday, a former IT security manager for the U.S. Navy, Marquis Hooper, was sentenced to 65 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for his role in stealing and selling over 9,000 identities.
The nearly 5½-year prison term was reached through agreement between the prosecutors and Hooper. It falls on the lower end of the non-mandatory pre-sentence guidelines, and it incorporates a mandatory two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft.
Hooper confessed to various charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and identity theft, in March. This admission came a little over two years after he and his wife, Natasha Chalk, were indicted for their involvement in these crimes.
The sentencing recommendation by the prosecutors emphasized that while they acknowledged certain factors, such as Hooper’s lack of a criminal history and his acceptance of responsibility, they found these insufficient to explain or justify the magnitude of his misconduct. In their view, as a Navy service member entrusted with safeguarding the nation’s citizens, his breach of that trust by stealing their personally identifiable information for personal gain warranted a severe punishment.
