For years, William Stanley has bilked numerous elderly ladies out of their money in what law enforcement officials refer to as the "paving scam." (The perpetrator unexpectedly arrives with a truckload of asphalt, offers to patch the driveway at an attractive rate, then dramatically increases the price after the job is done.) After being arrested again in Haverhill, Massachusetts, Stanley pleaded guilty to the charges of larceny from a person over 60, attempted larceny, and bail jumping in connection with a previous larceny charge in Oregon.

Rejecting the prosecutor's recommendation of six to eight years in prison, Suffolk County Judge Maria I. Lopez gave Stanley a three-year sentence that took into account his Gypsy background. Johns Hopkins-educated psychiatrist Keith Ablow testified that Stanley's Gypsy upbringing contributed to his criminal behavior. "This is a culture for which deception and lying is a survival strategy," said Ablow, adding that "it's probably not fair to hold him to the same standards you would an average individual." Ablow noted that Czech playwright Vaclav Havel once said that the way a society treats its Gypsies defines its level of civility, adding that punishing a man for culturally learned actions would create a "Dante-esque" and "Kafka-esque" situation.

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