Homeless man sentenced to 6 years passing fake money to buy food

[packman]

?w968h681


A homeless man who tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy food and toothpaste has been sentenced to up to six years in prison.

Levi Mitchell, 53, was found guilty of “criminal possession of a forged instrument” after attempting to use the fake bill at a pharmacy in New York City and again at a nearby restaurant.

Cashiers at both establishments rejected the homeless man’s note, before police officers later found him in possession of five counterfeit $20 bills
....

According to Vera Institute of Justice figures from 2015, it costs taxpayers an average of $69,000 ... a year to incarcerate someone at New York state prison

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/homeless-man-toothpaste-food-counterfeit-20-bill-prison-six-years-new-york-a8745861.html?ref=hvper.com&utm_source=hvper.com&utm_medium=website

[TwistOneUp]

1. Six years @ 69k/yr...

That's $414k. For under $100 of "criminal" activity.

Yeah, that makes sense. (snort)

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Well, he's got a home now. But...

heads would explode if, instead of 69 grand a year in the slam, the state spent a lot less to house him properly. Even give him some spending cash and the state would be ahead.

That, however, would be evil welfare, and must be avoided at all costs. Even costing 69 grand a year.

[myohmy2]

5. +1

...look at the bright side...

...at least he'll have warm meals and a warm bed for a while...

...

[whistler162]

3. 6th felony conviction could have been upto life in prison.

https://www.newsweek.com/homeless-man-who-tried-buy-toothpaste-counterfeit-20-sees-sentence-reduced-1306441

"One associate justice, Peter Tom, was the sole dissenter to the panel's majority ruling, with the judge asserting that Mitchell deserved the longer sentence he received in November 2015 due to the homeless man's previous convictions.

He noted that "leading back to 1981" Mitchell had "at least 30 prior criminal convictions, including five felonies and 25 misdemeanors," adding that "most of these prior convictions are recent."

In addition, defendant's criminal history includes serious felony convictions for attempted rape in the first degree, attempted robbery in the first degree, attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and grand larceny in the third degree."

If it had been one forged $20 and only once then the sentence would be harsh but 3 attempts and a total of 4 $20's that is more than just a "generous" person giving him a $20.

[cwydro]

8. Five previous felonies?

Glad he’s in prison.

[madville]

4. Prior felony convictions certainly played a role, they could have

given him a life sentence under the guidelines.

[USALiberal]

7. You cannot really use cost of prison to justify no jail time, also, multiple felony's. nt

[roamer65]

9. Now he gets free room and board.

It would be cheaper to get him housing and drug addiction treatment.

[Mc Mike]

10. Mike Cohen gets 3 for destroying our country.