Anderton to serve 5 years in federal prison for “Bonnie and Clyde” identity theft crimes

November 17, 2008 by admin
Filed under: identity theft justice

Edward Anderton was “Clyde” to Jocelyn Kirsch’s “Bonnie.” He was her lover, her traveling companion and her partner in crime. And, before the new year is rung in, Anderton will be living in federal prison, just like Kirsch.

Anderton was sentenced last week to serve four years in federal prison for his part in the identity theft scam that netted roughly $120,000 for the pair. Kirsch received a prison sentence of five years last month.

Just like the criminal pair of the1930s captured the imagination of the nation, Kirsch and Anderton gained notoriety for stealing the identities of 50 friends, neighbors and coworkers. Photos of the two enjoying the fruits of their labors were viewed by millions on the Internet: here’s a photo of them kissing in front of the Eiffel Tower; here’s another of them on a beach in the Caribbean.

They broke into their victims’ mailboxes and burglarized their homes to finance those trips. When police searched their luxurious Philadelphia condo they found $18,000 in cash, dozens of fraudulent drivers’ licenses and credit cards, a lock-picking tool, software used in identity theft crimes and a machine for printing identification cards.

The original Bonnie and Clyde came from lives of poverty and committed their crimes in the Great Depression-era dustbowl of the central United States. Anderton was an up and coming financial analyst with an Ivy League education. Kirsch was a student at Drexel, a plastic surgeon’s daughter whose breasts and nose were “done” as gifts from her dad.

Ironically, Anderton and Kirsch had lives of privilege and fortune before their crime spree, and will now have to spend years in poverty. At his sentencing, Anderton was given 45 days to surrender to a federal prison, allowing him to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with his family, but forcing him to begin 2009 as a prison inmate. Kirsch was immediately remanded to a federal prison in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma—the center of the Dustbowl where Bonnie and Clyde committed their crimes.

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