Card, mobile credential, payment and security
Three people behind a nationwide high-quality fake ID ring, affecting as many as 100 colleges and universities in some 17 states, have faced sentencing in Charlottesville Federal Court, according to newsplex.com.
Authorities said the trio raked in at least $2.5 million over a period of about two-and-a-half years. The nationwide scheme involved some 25,000 fake IDs distributed to students coast to coast, in colleges across 17 states.
Alan McNeil Jones, the mastermind behind the operation, received five years in prison. His girlfriend, Kelly McPhee, will serve 25 months in jail, and his tech guru, Mark Bernardo, was sentenced to 40 months.
U.S. attorney Tim Heaphy said his office is going to send notices to all persons (customers) involved to inform them of the case and the outcome. Customers will not be pursued for federal charges, but Heaphy said his office is also going to supply a list to at least 100 colleges and universities across the country of their students who did purchase an ID.
It will then be up to the colleges and universities to take action against them, whether by local law enforcement or the college disciplinary processes where student is enrolled.
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