Technician Sentenced in Thefts of IDs

A computer technician who prosecutors say touched off the largest identity theft in U.S. history was sentenced to 14 years in prison Tuesday by a judge who said the damage he caused was “almost unimaginable.”

Philip A. Cummings, 35, of Cartersville, Ga., a former help-desk worker for a Hauppauge, N.Y., software company, apologized before U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels imposed the sentence in New York.

The government has estimated that the identity theft scheme involved tens of thousands of victims and caused losses of between $50 million and $100 million.

Daniels said the case “emphasized how easy it is to wreak havoc on people’s financial and personal lives.”

He said the effect in “dollars and the number of individuals and the personal suffering and consequences for individual victims is almost unimaginable.”

In September, Cummings pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud and fraud in connection with identification documents.

The scheme unfolded while Cummings worked at Teledata Communications Inc., a company that provides banks with access to credit information.