Here’s another case of a stiff sentence for ID theft. Billy Coats was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to fraudulently using or possessing identifying information. At the time of his arrest, Coats was found in possession of more than 200 personal-identification items as well as computer equipment to make fake IDs and checks.
He could have received a life sentence under a law passed in Texas that elevated his crime to a first-degree felony because he possessed more than 50 stolen documents.