Computer thief jailed

Press, 28 March 1979, Page 8

Computer thief jailed

N2PA-Reuter ' Los Angeles Stanley Mark Rifkin, a 33-year-old computer analyst who admitted stealing SUSIO.2M from a Los Angeles bank by transferring the money with a computer, has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Judge Matthew Byrne, rejecting an appeal from Rifkin that he be placed on probation so that he could teach bank officials how to prevent computer fraud, said a prison term would be a “far more effective deterrent than all the| lectures he could give." Rifkin, who had pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, could have been sentenced to 10 1 years. Under Federal he could be freed on parole at the discretion of parole officials. In a 40-minuta pleading to Judge Byrne, Rifkin’s lawyer. Mr Robert Talcott, urged mercy, asserting that his client was a brilliant, if troubled man whd. had “an unconscious, merciless desire to destroy himself.” He said Rifkin needed psychiatric treatment to determine why. as a successful computer analyst, he had suddenly decided to steal the money from the Security Pacific Bank, and when on bail after arrest, he had plotted to steal about SUS44M from another bank. Charges stemming from the second episode have been dropped.