In 2022, Kristopher Brent Cobb, a now 41-year-old man living in Marina del Ray, plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced to 45 months in federal prison for the crimes and must pay $137,573 in restitution.

Stolen Identities

In 2019, a man murdered his wife and their son, attempted to kill their daughter, and then committed suicide. Within two days, Cobb had created fraudulent email addresses in the couples' names and used the man's cellphone number to request Capital One Bank add him as an authorized user of the man's credit card, where he attempted to withdraw $8,566 from an ATM. After this, he entered into a sales agreement at a cellphone store, impersonating the man to get access to the wife's phone number and using their credit card to make the purchase.

A few days later, Cobb called Barclays Bank and requested that it send a replacement credit card to a post office box that Cobb's accomplice had opened in the man's name after his death. Police investigation showed that Cobb used a key to open the post office box and take possession of its contents. When all was said and done, Cobb caused losses of about $146,139. And unfortunately, these crimes were perpetrated against the surviving daughter of the married couple.

Hiring a Skilled Criminal Attorney

Plea deals tend to force the defendant to plead guilty to avoid unnecessarily harsh sanctioning. They are only beneficial when the prosecution's case is so strong the defendant simply cannot win. Other times, though, plea deals are misused by the prosecution and defense teams, who are overloaded with cases. When a defense attorney cannot provide the appropriate counsel the defendant requires, they can encourage defendants to take a plea deal without considering the negative ramifications.

Attorney Vitaly Sigal of Sigal Law Group understands how crucial a strong defense is to a criminal case. His skill and experience are unmatched. Call 818-325-0579 today for a free consultation.