PITTSBURGH – A Pittsburgh man who was AWOL from the Army has been sentenced to eight months in federal prison for what a prosecutor called an "elaborate" scheme to steal Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's identity and spend $658 using a credit card in Allen's name.
A judge agreed to recommend that 30-year-old Brandon Lee Price serve his term in a halfway house, but federal prison officials are not bound by that suggestion.
Price's public defender took issue with government claims that the scheme was elaborate — and the judge seemed stumped by how a man with limited education pulled it off.
But a prosecutor says federal agents found detailed notebooks in which Price listed Allen's account information and personal details — including his wife's maiden name — used in the scheme.
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