There really are weirder and more interesting legal shennigans going on than those of OJ, Britney and Senator Craig. You have to read this article posted August 30 in the Taipei Times:
“Man confesses bizarre life of crime”
By Rich Chang
Thursday, Aug 30, 2007
The Ministry of Justice is investigating the claims of a man who said that he stood in for a number of criminals by appearing for them at trial and serving their prison sentences. The man, who suffers from severe hemophilia, said he was willing to take the blame for other people’s crimes because he knew he would be released early from the prison sentences as a result of his poor health. Department of Corrections Director Shaw Ming-yi yesterday told a press conference that the man, Kuo Ronghui, 35, had been sentenced to a total of 36 years and six months in jail for a number of crimes, including offenses against public safety, theft, using and selling drugs and violations of gun, explosives and knife regulations.
Shaw said that Kuo had been released early from prison repeatedly because of his hemophilia, adding that Kuo had, for example, entered prison in late 2002 and been released for medical treatment on March 2003. Shaw said that Kuo’s condition required treatment amounting to NT$60,000 (US$1,800) per week, which the prisons could not afford.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday reported that Kuo had confessed in an interview to taking the place of a number of criminals at trial and in prison. Kuo told the reporter that his criminal record listed about 90 crimes, of which about 70 were committed by other people. He said that he had received NT$300,000 from each offender to take the consequences for their crimes and had once received NT$12 million from a drug smuggler. Kuo said that since he had gotten away with the scam so many times, many gangsters had approached him for his service.
Gives new meaning to the term Dangerous Doses, which incidentally is also the title of a book, about crooks, about hemophilia and about factor. What an ingenious scam. If justice is served, he will end up in prison, with or without his factor. If you like true crime drama, especially about hemophilia, read Dangerous Doses by Katherine Eban (www.dangerousdoses.com). And let’s hope there isn’t a sequel with Mr. Kuo.