A serial thief is accused of robbing an Oakwood bank of $1,610; he said in the note he had a gun, but didn’t show it:
This is not (Timothy) Stewart’s first bank robbery arrest. He pleaded guilty to robbing two Dayton-area banks in 1999 and was sentenced to 9½ years in prison. He was released in 2008 and was still on probation earlier this year when he was arrested for the RETS theft.
Oakwood police said Stewart faces minimum mandatory sentences of 30 years in prison if convicted of the new bank robbery charge.
via Alleged Oakwood bank robber indicted in federal court [1].
Yet, I have to wonder how many years in prison the “robo-signer” [2] who worked for the banks is going to serve? Signing off on thousands of documents that took homes away from people, who often were already being charged premium interest rates for their homes, the “robo-signer” stole much more than a mere $1,610- and was well paid to do it.
Considering the scrutiny that the local board of elections uses to disqualify candidates from appearing on the ballots- it’s amazing that a person signing off on the foreclosure on a home isn’t held to a higher standard?
Apparently, not dotting your “i’s” and crossing your “t’s” is only an issue when you want to serve your country- not when your job destroys people’s lives. I’m not making an excuse for Mr. Stewart’s crimes- I’m just asking that banks be held to the same standard for crimes committed on both sides of the teller counter.
Our entire banking and monetary system is built on trust- just as our system of elections, when that trust is violated, the punishments should be equal for those in power and those without- for that’s the definition of justice.
[note- added later to comments- Angelo Mozilo, former CEO of Contrywide is fined millions for stealing billions, banned from financial markets- but- no jail time. Justice?]
David,
I could not agree with you more. A new issue that will be down played by the justce system will be the government ownership stake in many banks involved in the foreclosure mess. There are already powerful forces trying to minimize the seriousness of these “clerical errors.”
People could effect a free-market solution (and be happier) by pulling their business out of the mega-banks and choosing a local institution. Best bet: a credit union.
From the NYT:
And- why isn’t he serving 30 years? Because he stole billions and paid off millions.
This isn’t justice.
The whole mortgage thing is a mess, but NOBODY saw it coming….. The biggest load of doo ever foisted on the public. We made realtors, developers, stock brokers and mortgage brokers rich while allowing wall street to destroy the industrial base of this country and rob americans of living wage jobs. Kasich and Strickland are perfect examples of the hang over of idiots we have to run this State. Along with Dewine, the most worthless senator I have ever seen as he was regularly embarrassed on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee. DeWine also made sure the Taliban was paid 22 million dollars in APRIL 2001 for destroying the Poppy crop in Afghanistan. A real brain trust, but with DDN ineptness managing the fourth estate and a really dumb electorate, OY what does one expect?
We are running the same people and we are going to get the same results. We get what we deserve!
I hope any consumer backlash gets legs and even more that Obama’s consumer protection czar Elizabeth Warren, has the chones balls to go after the top execs that allowed these foreclosure mills to flourish. It seems to me that when a consumer can be held up for months to get an approval for a short sale by a financial institution the financial institutions should take the time to document their legal position in a foreclosure. When you are taking something away from someone you ought to be operating at the highest standards of the law.
It will be interesting to watch whether Ms. Warren will take a strong leadership role in addressing these issues or creates a smoke screen to avoid taking on the POWERFUL banking lobby. We certainly will then know what this administration is made of.
Put all these jerks in jail and take all their assets away!
If you or I signed an affidavit that attested to something that was not true, we would under penalty of perjury, regardless of which employer “made” us do it. At least the courts should be doing that to the robosigners, making them think twice before affixing their name to a document that is unverified.