Authorities seize more than $2 million in fake ID ring
21 May, 2013
category: Education
Federal prosecutors expect more charges to be placed against the three Charlottesville, Virginia residents charged with selling fake IDs to thousands of college students across the country, according to the Washington Post.
According to reports, authorities seized more than $2 million in a May 6 raid including $1.3 million in a safe and funds in four bank accounts. From a home located at 920 Rugby Road, the feds also uncovered $800,000 in additional money and confiscated an arsenal of 18 handguns, shotguns and assault rifles.
Prosecutors have charged 31-year-old Alex McNeil Jones and 31-year-old Kelly McPhee with mail fraud, wire fraud and related activity in connection with identification documents. Mark Bernardo, a 26-year-old accomplice to the scheme, was also charged with fraud and related activity in connection with identification documents and one count of money laundering. All three declined to request bond and waived their right to a preliminary hearing. Another hearing has not yet been scheduled.
U.S. Postal and Homeland Security investigators collaborated in the probe after a local investigation into fake IDs at the College of Charleston in South Carolina led police to Charlottesville. Investigators say the defendants operated out of the home and a Charlottesville post office box has been tied to more than 4,000 fake IDs shipped to college towns since 2011.
U.S. Attorney Tim Heaphy said that of the dozens of falsified identifications police recovered from the home and three vehicles, police only found driver’s licenses and student ID cards. Investigators found fake IDs in about 20 different state designs in the home, Heaphy said.
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