Friday, Sept. 12, 2003 | 11:12 a.m.
Sheriff Bill Young is outraged that a man who allegedly stole the identity of more than 20 local residents and was arrested last week on federal gun charges was released without posting bail Wednesday.
In an e-mail to the Sun, Young wrote: "I find this the most unreasonable release I've ever heard of involving a clearly dangerous and prolific parasite to the Las Vegas community."
The man to whom Young was referring, 38-year-old Craig Neff, promptly fled to Utah after U.S. Magistrate Robert Johnston released him on his own recognizance, police said.
Neff was arrested Thursday in the Salt Lake City area for violating the terms of his release, which required him to stay in Nevada.
But Metro Police say Neff should never have been released in the first place. They said they had a major case building against him that would have broadened fraud and forgery charges he was already facing for the alleged identity thefts.
Lt. Jim Moses of Metro's repeat offender program, who arrested Neff last week, acknowledged that there was probably "no intentional wrongdoing" on the part of the judge.
But Moses said the situation is "frustrating for law enforcement ... Here you have a dangerous felon who was released at the whim of someone who is not paying enough attention to the situation."
Johnston could not be reached for comment this morning.
Neff was arrested Sept. 3 on federal warrants for illegal gun possession, drug possession with intent to sell and local warrants for methamphetamine trafficking and being an ex-felon in possession of a gun.
Detectives discovered Neff had dozens of driver's licenses bearing his photograph and the names of various unsuspecting local people.
Moses said he obtained pertinent information on the victims from a person who has access to that information.
In addition to getting driver's licenses in their names, Neff allegedly set up lines of credit and charged thousands of dollars in purchases within the past month, which he sold to support his methamhetamine habit, Moses said.
But all Neff had to do to get out of jail was sign paperwork agreeing to appear in court at a later date without posting a bond.
Identity thiefs rarely serve jail time because they are seen as non-violent, white collar criminals, police said.
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives promised consumers a free credit report once a year as part of a broad measure combating identity theft. However, consumer groups attacked the bill, calling the protections weak.
Last week a Federal Trade Commission study said that 27.3 million people nationwide had been victims of identity theft in the past five years, including 9.9 million people last year alone.
The thefts cost consumers $5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses, and businesses and financial institutions lost nearly $48 billion.
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