A Toledo man is behind bars accused of running a high-tech counterfeit ID empire that flooded college towns across Ohio with forged identification. Mark A. Simon, 34, was indicted on federal charges of production of false identification documents, transfer of false identification documents, and possession of equipment used to produce false identification documents, according to court records filed in U.S. District Court.
Inside his Stengel Road home, investigators uncovered a digital and physical arsenal: 18 gold coins, 215 silver coins, 21 gold and silver bars, $7,000 in cash, multiple computers, hard drives, USB storage devices, latex gloves, photo paper, six modems, a photo printer, and approximately $4.7 million in bitcoin pulled from around 30 digital wallets stored on a single USB drive. The haul marks one of the largest crypto-seizures tied to identity fraud in Ohio’s recent history.
The investigation began when an employee at a Springfield, Ohio pub turned over a stack of suspicious IDs collected at the bar. A student from Wittenberg University admitted he and a friend obtained their fake IDs through Reddit, specifically from a user known as TedDanzigSr. That username became the break investigators needed. The suspect didn’t just post casually — he ran a daily operation promoting the sale of counterfeit IDs, demanding payment in bitcoin.
Agents traced the digital footprints back through encrypted transactions and server logs, ultimately linking TedDanzigSr to Mark Simon. The affidavit reveals Simon previously sold fake IDs on Silk Road, the notorious dark web marketplace, before migrating his operation to Reddit to expand his customer base. The shift didn’t hide him — it exposed him.
The case was jointly investigated by the Ohio Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Secret Service’s Toledo Resident Agency, with support from the FBI, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Toledo Police Department, and the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office. It is now being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Noah P. Hood and Robert Kern.
Simon faces a sentence to be determined by the court, factoring in his role, criminal history, and the nature of the charges. While the statutory maximum applies, actual sentencing may be lower. A charge, however, is not evidence of guilt. Simon is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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