The crime behind the crime

A Bristol Township man had business cards printed up. The cards said: David Goldstein, Pennsylvania parole agent. The police had a problem with this, however, because name was Mark Zacharovich, and he wasn't a parole officer. I have a problem with this because Mr. Zacharovich was having the cards printed so that he could use them to write encouraging notes to his niece, who was on parole and whose parole officer was David Goldstein. I know that Mr. Zacharovich committed a crime, he was charged with impersonating a public servant, criminal attempt, and forgery. His crimes don't really concern me, however. What bothers me is the thought that if not for the crime committed by her uncle, there is a young woman who would not have had any outside positive reinforcement. The article doesn't say much about why Mr. Zachorovich felt compelled to do this, but having worked with 'at risk' young people who are in and out of the judicial system, I would not be surprised if this was the only official positive reinforcement this young woman was getting. Parole officers vary in quality and are under great pressure, and the burden shouldn't be on them alone anyway, but if we want people on parole to get off an to stay off and stay out of jail, we have to do more than monitor them. We certainly need to get quickly beyond Mr. Zacharovich's crime, and take a look at the motivation. There may well be a bigger problem lurking back in there.