May 15, 2007

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  NEWS: Are Returned Cards Theft?

  By almost anyone's standards, Lucas Nicol was an extraordinarily conscientious fraudster. After he broke into the home of sixty-two-year-old retiree Bob Bulat and stole his credit cards for use on a no-holds-barred shopping spree, he returned them. Yes, that's right – Nicol actually re-burgled Bulat's hoe, for the purpose of returning his credit cards to their rightful place, exactly where he found them. Now, Nicol's lawyer is trying to argue to a Lyons, Illinois appellate court that his client is not a thief.
  
  Nicols, aged twenty-nine, used Bulat's cards for over $2,000 in purchases, on concert tickets, clothes and music-recording equipment. His lawyer, Christopher Kopacz, does not deny that Nicols is guilty of fraud, but does not want him charged with theft. Per Kopacz, state statute as regarding the definition of theft requires intent to permanently deprive the owner of the use of something. Kopacz argues that, by that very definition, Nicols did not commit true theft – because he returned the cards to Bulat when he was done using them for fraud.
  
  Luckily, the state appellate court did not agree with Kopacz's seriously questionable line of defense. They upheld Nicols' original conviction and sentence to 364 days in state lockup. As for Bulat, he says that the charges have been reimbursed to him by the credit card companies in question.
  
  
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