No-jail for WI banker shows why it's called white-collar crime

Start with this recent story about the racial implications of everyday language.

Now let's note that several African-American defendants in a recent Wisconsin case received multiple years in prison and extended probationary supervision for what media called 30 seconds of 'mob shoplifting of $33,000 in goods in 30 seconds.

Two more of the eight men charged in connection to a case of mob shoplifting at the North Face store at Pleasant Prairie Premium Outlets in July 2019 were sentenced on April 15. 

Cashmere Antwine, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of retail theft — intentionally taking greater than $10,000, as party to a crime, filed on July 15. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison — credit for 238 days served — and three years of extended supervision on April 15.

Police described the incident this way:

The incident happened at 7:45 p.m. Monday at the store at 11601 108th St., Suite 577, when “10 black males entered the store and each grabbed as much merchandise as they could carry before running to the cars and leaving the property,” said Sgt. Aaron Schaffer of the Pleasant Prairie Police Department. Items included jackets and other articles of clothing. There was no physical confrontation. 

Schaffer said the suspects, who remain at large, were in the store for approximately 20 to 30 seconds before fleeing the scene.

Serious crimes, to be sure, and no doubt upsetting for customers and employees.

Meanwhile, the former top executive at a Waupaca, WI bank just accepted a plea deal dismissing all but one of 13

count of misappropriating more than $1.6 million in bank funds for his personal use. 

And which paid for years of perks, upscale meals and world travel, a paid-up Cadillac Escalade and various other forms of alleged familial and financial favors on top of an already generous salaries and benefits.

Serious crimes in toto were alleged, to be sure, and which were no doubt upsetting for customers and employees, as records showed:

The indictment alleges that between 2010 and 2013, [Archie] Overby, who was then president, CEO and Chairman of the Board of First National Bank in Waupaca, Wisconsin, defrauded the bank by expensing the bank for luxurious personal travel and entertainment for himself, his family, and various friends. Among the trips that he is alleged to have taken at bank expense are trips to Tanzania, the Cayman Islands and St. Maarten, as well as to luxury hotels and resorts in California, Texas, Florida, and North Carolina. The indictment alleges that this personal travel exceeded $1.2 million dollars and that he caused the bank to provide him with an additional $320,930 to cover taxes on the ill-gotten proceeds.

Given the easy access which Overby had or was allowed to the bank's resources, and the number of others who benefited from it makes you wonder if it indicates a quieter form of 'mob shoplifting.' 

Overby been facing a maximum sentence of 30 years. But other than paying a fine and restitution, no jail time or probation was ordered for what we interestingly have come to call "white-collar crime."

Who wants to argue that the contrasting sentences are fair, equitable, or free of systemic or institutional racial (Overby is white) and class biases?