Two University of Northern Iowa students have been charged and more people are being sought after authorities discovered two dozen fake IDs.
Cedar Falls Police have made multiple arrests after Homeland Security officials intercepted a package containing a number of fake IDs. According to Cedar Falls Police Captain Jeff Harrenstein, the package was being shipped to a Cedar Falls address from China.
Police have arrested 20-year-olds Anthony Pertzborn and Megan Smock on one count each obtaining or possessing a fradulent driver’s license. That charge is a serious misdemeanor and more arrests are pending. Harrenstein says the phony IDs were realistic enough to skirt some security procedures.
“We don’t want fraudulent driver’s licenses, especially ones like these that look very legitimate and do actually meet or beat some of the security standards that are set up through various states or DOT offices,” Harrenstein says.
The fake IDs were likely bound for students at the University of Northern Iowa and Harrenstein says keeping bogus driver’s licenses out of students’ hands is an ongoing task in a college town.
“The practice of using fake IDs is constantly evolving and getting more sophisticated,” Harrenstein says. “I don’t think the majority of students have really bad intentions with these licenses. I think a lot of times they posess altered or fraudulent driver’s licenses simply to acquire alcohol but, again, that certainly leads to other problems and in a college town is a challenge for the police department.”
Harrenstein says the two students who were arrested were working together to have the package delivered to an off-campus address.
(Reporting by Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls)