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Charlottesville Trio Plead Guilty to Operating Fake ID Ring
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA – A sophisticated scheme to produce and sell high-quality false identification documents has been brought to an end, with three Charlottesville residents pleading guilty to the crime.
Alan McNeil Jones, 31, Kelly Erin McPhee, 31, and Mark Guerin Bernardo, 34, all of Charlottesville, Va., waived their rights to be indicted and pled guilty on [current date] in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville.
The three defendants each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit identification document fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. According to court documents, the trio developed a scheme to produce and sell fraudulent driver’s licenses, generating profits of more than $3 million over several years.
“These three defendants developed a sophisticated scheme to produce and sell high-quality false identification documents throughout the nation,” said United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy. “Their criminal enterprise was tremendously lucrative, generating profits of more than $3 million over several years. By producing and distributing these fraudulent identification documents, Mr. Jones and his co-conspirators endangered national security.”
The investigation revealed that the defendants primarily used the U.S. Mail to facilitate their criminal scheme, with Postal Inspectors identifying the scheme and working with law enforcement agencies to dismantle their enterprise.
As part of the scheme, Jones paid commissions to students at the University of Virginia, and elsewhere, to refer his service to other students interested in obtaining fraudulent driver’s licenses. He also outsourced some of the manufacturing work to companies in Bangladesh and China. The conspiracy, which began in 2010 and operated under the name Novel Design, produced and sold more than 25,000 fraudulent driver’s licenses throughout the nation.
At the height of the conspiracy, Jones, McPhee and Bernardo were able to create fraudulent driver’s licenses for the states of Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
At sentencing, each defendant faces a maximum possible penalty of up to 15 years in federal prison on the conspiracy charge and a mandatory additional two-year sentence on the aggravated identify theft charge. To date, over $2.7 million in assets have been seized by law enforcement.
Defendant: Alan McNeil Jones
Criminal Charges: Conspiracy to commit identification document fraud and aggravated identity theft
City and State: Charlottesville, Virginia
Exact Date: [current date]
Sentence or Outcome: Pled guilty, facing up to 15 years in federal prison and a mandatory additional two-year sentence
Dollar Amounts: Over $3 million in profits, over $2.7 million in assets seized
Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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