Ordinary Check Forgery Qualifies as Identity Theft

Statutory language excluding paper checks from the definition of “access device” does not show that Congress intended to exclude ordinary check forgery from the scope of the federal aggravated identify theft statute, 18 U.S.C. §1028, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held Aug. 6. (United States v. Alexander, 9th Cir., No. 12-30156)

The court rejected arguments that its broader construction of the identify theft statute renders the paper-check language a nullity and upsets the balance of federal and state regulation in this area.

The defendant in this case stole a check from the ...