Stamford Police Seek Arrest Warrants Following Discovery of Fake Licenses Imported from China

A delivery of a package to a wrong address in Stamford has led to an investigation of the importation of fake drivers licenses from China that were purchased via a Stamford conspiracy to obtain fake IDs for college students.

According to Stamford Police, they are working with law enforcement agencies and the colleges that local students are attending, including Norwalk Community College.

It all began on Aug. 25 when a concerned citizen from Bouton Street turned over a package that was inadvertently delivered to a wrong address, police said in a statement. “As the concerned citizen opened the package they discovered 24 drivers licenses secreted underneath packaging materials. The concerned citizen then turned over the package and the identifications to the Stamford Police Department,” according to the statement from Lt. Diedrich Hohn and Capt. Richard Conklin.

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Police said investigators confirmed that the licenses were falsified. “We determined that a local conspiracy was initiated here in Stamford and that money and pictures were collected here and then wired to China where the licenses were manufactured. The licenses were mailed back to Stamford and the falsified licenses were distributed to underage youths,” Hohn and Conklin said.

They described the seized licenses as being “of high quality and even had the holograms embedded in the licenses.” The 24 licenses seized were exact copies of licenses from Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maine, and Pennsylvania.

Hohn and Conklin also said, “We determined that several of the youths were from the Stamford area and several others were from the Massachusetts area. We notified the Police/Security departments of the colleges that were being attended by these youths to be on the lookout for other identifications that have been made prior to this seizure.”

The colleges that were notified include Norwalk Community College, the University of Rhode Island, and Cape Cod Community College and Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts.

Police also determined that each falsified license had a duplicate for the purpose of having a backup if one was seized.

Police said they have applied for arrest warrants for those involved.

A person found in possession of a falsified license can face a felony second-degree forgery charge, police said.

Hohn and Conklin said, “We would like the public to know that we take these investigations seriously since the purpose of these falsified licenses is for underage youth to obtain alcohol and enter bars. The bigger concern is that these licenses can be obtained for more nefarious reasons as far as obtaining fake identities for terrorism related purposes or to gain fake citizenship in the United States.”

They added, “Parents of underage children should be aware that this is happening and be on the lookout for their children possessing licenses from another state.”

Photo:a sample of some of the fake driver’s licenses seized by Stamford Police.