Police: Store Raided For Fake IDs
POSTED: Tuesday, May 15, 2007
UPDATED: 6:05 pm CDT May 15,2007
HOUSTON -- A southwest Houston business was raided on Tuesday, accused of selling fake identification cards, KPRC Local 2 reported.
Mr. ID, located at 2578 South Loop East, specializes in high-quality counterfeit IDs, officials said.
Undercover officers from the Harris County District Attorney's Office and Houston police converged on the store shortly after it opened.
They were after counterfeit driver's licenses, made to order, for any state in the union.
A warrant was also issued for Tramaine Terrald Dobbins, a clerk accused of selling several to an undercover police officer. He has not been located. Dobbins faces a third-degree felony charge.
"We ran in an undercover officer to buy a counterfeit ID and also ran in a teenage employee for the sheriff's department to buy I.D.s that made them seem like they were over 21 when in fact they were not," Assistant Harris County District Attorney Craig Still said.
The store manager said they are novelty identification cards designed to be used as gags and not illegally.
But police said the fake licenses have been used illegally.
The complaint that sparked the raid came from a Baton Rouge, La., woman whose underage daughter allegedly bought a counterfeit Louisiana license at the store.
Police confiscated a box of phony IDs, machines used to make them and several assault rifles.
The district attorney said the fake identification cards are more than just a way for underage drinkers to get into bars -- they can lead to identity theft.
"If you get your checks ripped off, your information ripped off -- someone could take Phil Archer's name and go get a photo ID with his name on it and then perpetuate fraud," Still said.
The owner refused an on-camera interview, but told KPRC Local 2 that he keeps the weapons in his store for protection.
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