Last Student in Fake ID Operation Surrenders This Week in Athens

The last of the 21 students indicted as part of an alleged fake ID manufacturing and distribution ring surrendered this week to authorities.

Katarina Lynn Schatz, the last of the 20 students indicted for alleged involvement in an ID counterfeiting operation, surrendered to authorities this week. The 20-year-old UGA student was booked into the Clarke County Jail Wednesday morning, according to a story in the Athens Banner Herald.

The ID ring allegedly made and distributed fake IDs to possibly thousands of underage students at UGA and other schools.

Schatz was charged with three counts each of distribution of false identification documents and distribution of false identification documents containing an unauthorized government seal.

Last week, the student who was one of the alleged ringleaders of the fake ID business says his charges should be reduced from felonies to misdemeanors. Tyler Andrew Ruby contends that since he was 19 when the alleged incident occurred, Georgia law says he should be facing misdemeanors. 

District Attorney Ken Mauldin disagrees with that interpretation.