By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 6, 2008

A former employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was sentenced yesterday to more than five years in federal prison for stealing the identities of 200 people, some of them disaster victims.

In April, Robert W. Davis, 44, of Southeast Washington pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in a four-year scheme that ended in November 2007. Prosecutors said Davis used the identities to purchase items ranging from diamond watches and other jewelry to steaks and lobsters.

Davis stole identities while working at mortgage companies and as a human resource specialist at FEMA, authorities said. About 30 stolen identities belonged to people trying to get disaster assistance, federal prosecutors said.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, FEMA's chief counsel wrote that Davis had obtained lines of credit in the names of three disaster victims and received at least $2,353 in merchandise.

Walton said that Davis's actions were "lowdown" because some of the victims had been harmed in natural disasters.

"What you did, which is really repulsive, is rather than trying to help these people, you hurt them more," Walton said in sentencing Davis to 5 years and 4 months behind bars. "When you see someone on the ground, you don't step on them and hurt them more."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tejpal S. Chawla said investigators found identity information on mortgage applications and on scraps of notepaper scattered in Davis's home. Davis used the identities of at least 74 people to open fraudulent credit accounts with retailers during the scam, Chawla said.

In court documents, Chawla wrote that Davis fraudulently opened more than $150,000 in credit accounts and pawned purchased merchandise for about $24,000 in cash. Walton ordered Davis to pay $48,765.80 in restitution to the retailers, which include the Home Shopping Network and Shop NBC.

"This is a very sad case about a defendant stealing money from very vulnerable victims," Chawla said, adding that Davis's scheme might discourage people from approaching FEMA for help.

Davis apologized for his actions, saying he has battled a drug problem since an early age and was the victim of an abusive father.

"I made a big mistake," Davis said. "I'm extremely sorry. . . . I was trying to escape my problems."

Walton said that while he understood Davis had a difficult childhood, he noted that he had been convicted four previous times of theft and fraud. He also pointed out that Davis wasn't using the lines of credit just to finance a drug habit.

"That wasn't about drugs," Walton said. "That was about living good."