Pyong K. “Peter” Pak said Wednesday that he would not have committed the 75 counts of identity theft and other charges for which he was sentenced Wednesday if he had sought help for his drug addiction.
“I know I’ve been a burden to my family and to society,” he said in state court.
His lawyer, Eric Seitz, suggested Pak would not have become addicted to methamphetamine had the U.S. government acknowledged that Pak and other veterans suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder when they returned from the Gulf War and offered them treatment.
Deputy Prosecutor Chris Van Marter said PTSD is no excuse for criminality and that Pak has had opportunities to address his drug addiction but continued to commit crimes. “He’s basically become a menace to society,” Van Marter said.
Circuit Judge Colette Garibaldi sentenced Pak to 20 years in prison and ordered him to serve at least eight years of the sentence behind bars before he can be eligible for parole. The Hawaii Paroling Authority can set a higher minimum.
Pak, a South Korean national, faces deportation.
The state says Pak was a leader of a 14-member ID theft ring that victimized at least 256 people between May 1, 2010, and Jan. 27, 2011, and stole at least $218,500. Van Marter said Pak is responsible for stealing about $100,000.
Ring co-leader Gerald N. Waialae II was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison. Other ring members got sentences ranging from probation to 10 years in prison.
Pak was sentenced in 2002 to 10 years in prison for theft, forgery, credit card fraud and computer fraud in three separate cases. State lawmakers approved Hawaii identity theft laws that year as Pak’s cases were cited as evidence of the need for the new laws.
Pak was allowed to withdraw his no-contest pleas in 2005. He pleaded guilty in 2006 and was sentenced to five years’ probation. He was on probation when he committed the crimes for which he was sentenced Wednesday.
