Lithuanian faces deportation for ID theft

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PITTSBURGH, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A Lithuanian national who pleaded guilty to selling personal information for 10,000 people will be deported without serving prison time, a U.S. judge said.

Tadas Petrauskas, 23, of Brick, N.J., pleaded guilty in July to a single count of identity theft in federal court in Pittsburgh. Petrauskas was caught selling login and password information for a variety of websites, essentially exposing thousands of individuals' personal information.

Prosecutors argued before U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer just because Petrauskas is a foreign national, he shouldn't escape a prison sentence. Prosecutor Linda Cohn noted a majority of those who commit identity theft against Americans are from other countries and in the rare instance that one can be prosecuted in a U.S. court, letting the individual go without serving prison time provides no deterrent for others committing the same crime.

Fischer noted if Petrauskas attempts to come back to the United States before his five years of probation he'll be charged with another crime.