Fake ID shop busted
Fake ID shop busted
Potomac News ^ | September 6, 2006 | LILLIAN KAFKA
A fake ID operation that was manufacturing immigration green cards, Social Security cards and employment papers for more than 1,000 people is out of business, said Prince William County detectives.
Northern Virginia Gang Task Force Detective Brian Wing said this was the largest fake ID operation seen in the county so far, and the men involved had been selling fake employment documents for some time.
Police arrested three Woodbridge men on Saturday when they allegedly sold a fake Social Security card and an employment authorization card to a woman for $100, according to arrest warrants filed in Prince William General District Court.
At 8:45 p.m. detectives stopped a woman in the parking lot of Todos Supermarket in the 14400 block of Jefferson Davis Highway in the Prince William Plaza, said Officer John Bogert, Prince William police spokesman.
The woman had just purchased a fake Social Security card and an employment authorization card, so detectives looked for the men selling the cards, Bogert said.
Police found three men and arrested them for manufacturing and selling the false identity cards, Bogert said.
Police charged Jovani Hernandez-Garcia, 23; Carlos Lopez, 24; and Mario Peralto-Alatorre, 20, all of whom live at 14124 Essex Drive in Woodbridge, Bogert said.
Each was charged with one misdemeanor count, according to court records.
Wing said the trio should expect to see 10 more felony forgery charges handed down from the Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney.
The men were making between $100 and $200 per fake ID, which they made using computers, scanners, printers and a card maker, Wing said.
Police seized from the house on Essex Drive blank green cards, Social Security cards, resident alien cards, permanent resident cards, more than 1,000 Polaroid pictures, a photo cutter, heat sealers and holograms, Wing said.
Police also collected card makers and completed IDs from Texas, Tennessee, Ohio and every state in Mexico, Wing said.
He said the false documents were "shoddy" at best.
"There are things I've been taught to look for," Wing said. He pointed to a fake Social Security card. "The lines aren't straight."
He said his main focus is going to be to look for anyone else who might have been involved with the false ID operation.
"I'm looking for more people," Wing said. "If they're out there, I'm going to find them. I'm also going to look into the financial records to see where the money is going."
As for the people who were waiting for their false documents, Wing said he wasn't sure if police would be pursuing them.
"We don't know if these names and dates of birth are right," he said. "I'm not sure anything will happen to them or not."
Hernandez-Garcia, Lopez and Peralto-Alatorre were held in the Prince William-Manassas regional jail without bond. Their court hearing date is Nov. 14.
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