According to an article “Former CEO spared prison in $500K theft case” in the Intelligencer Journal New Era:
“[Ronald J.] Hunsicker was sentenced Monday to three years probation for using company funds to pay for more than half a million dollars in personal expenses.
“Hunsicker was the CEO of Lancaster city-based National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers during the 5-year cycle of thefts, according to testimony”
“He avoided prison, in part, because he paid back the $500,000 in restitution owed to the non-profit organization, it was said in court.”
Granted an important goal of the criminal justice system is to rehabilitate, but also it is to discourage similar criminal actions by others.
What message is Lancaster County Judge Margaret Miller sending to the public when a person who heads a charity can use $500,000 of its money for his own purposes and go without a single day of prison sentence?
Certainly the judge could have sent Hunsicker to prison for at least a month. Otherwise the message is that people of power involved in white collar crime can buy their way out of jail time.
This is further evidence that there are two criteria of justice: One for the general society, especially minorities. The other for the influential and affluent, usually white.
The sentence is not the example society should be setting.
I could not agree more.
The message here is clear to everyone. There are two justice system in America – one for rich and another for the poor.
I propose mandatory sentencing (just like that mentioned elsewhere on the Newslanc site) for non-violent, white collar crime. The sentences should be proportional to the amount of money stolen Perhaps the sentence could be reduced – if the money was returned BEFORE the perp gets caught.