Card, mobile credential, payment and security
The masterminds behind the sophisticated fake ID manufacturing and distribution operation that sold fraudulent driver licenses to underage students at the University of Georgia and elsewhere recently pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges, according to onlineathens.com.
UGA student William Finley Trosclair, 22, and former Gainesville State University student Tyler Andrew Ruby, each pleaded guilty to charges that they manufactured and distributed false identification documents, and manufactured and distributed false identification documents containing unauthorized government seals.
Authorities said the fake ID operation headed by the two students provided door-to-door service for underage students wanting IDs to get them into bars. Couriers took photos of customers in their dorm rooms, collected personal information for the IDs and delivered the finished product at prices that ranged from $50 to $100.
During a search of the home shared by Trosclair and Ruby in east Athens, UGA officers found blank magnetic ID card strips and driver license laminates for the states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and New Jersey. Authorities collected some 600 fake driver licenses, but the actual number of IDs distributed by the ring might have been more than 2,000.
The investigation spanned several states, and in July a Clarke County grand jury indicted a total of 21 students, including Trosclair and Ruby. Students from Northwestern University, the University of Alabama and the University of Mississippi also were indicted.
Trosclair and Ruby were each sentenced under the state First Offender Act, meaning that if they successfully complete probation the convictions will not appear on their records.
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