A Good Time for SSN Fraud

You'd think the Social Security Administration would want to do all it can to help crack down on the fraudulent use of Social Security numbers. But you'd be wrong. The agency requires prosecutors to ask one month in advance for its personnel to testify in trials. "This is nuts," said Joe DeCecco, a district attorney in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. "Every time I want someone to testify in a criminal case, I have to apply 30 days in advance to the Social Security commissioner in Baltimore, Maryland? I can't wait 30 days for a preliminary hearing." Preliminary hearings in Wisconsin must be held within 10 days of someone's arrest, and DeCecco has lost cases because of the administration's policy.