If someone steals a lot of money from you, but you already have a lot of money, is it really such a bad crime?
That’s what a federal judge is being asked to decide in a notorious $31 million counterfeit coupon case, as a participant in the scheme is asking for a reduced sentence – due, in part, to the fact that his victims are “multi-billion dollar companies” that suffered “no substantial financial hardship.”
Lori Ann Talens of Virginia Beach earned plenty of press back in 2021 when she was charged, convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison for designing and selling tens of millions of dollars worth of counterfeit coupons. Her estranged husband Pacifico wasn’t the mastermind of the scheme, but he was also charged, convicted and sentenced to more than seven years for being an accomplice.
And now, two months after Lori Ann Talens asked for a reduction in her sentence, Pacifico Talens has now done so as well.
Both cited recent changes in the federal sentencing guidelines, which now recommend lighter sentencing ranges for nonviolent first-time criminal offenders, and allows current convicts to apply for sentence reductions. In a request sent to the judge in his case, Pacifico Talens writes that “due to a minor misdemeanor legal situation” more than a decade ago, he was not considered a first-time offender at the time of his sentencing. As a result, he says, he’s spending 16 more months behind bars than he otherwise might under the new guidelines. He’s asking the judge to reconsider his prior offense so he can be eligible for a reduced sentence.