Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990                   TAG: 9004260607
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SELLING FAKE IDS BRINGS JAIL TERM FOR TECH STUDENT

It got him and the person who sold it to him into court, along with a few other students who bought the $30 licenses.

Merriman, 20, of Delaware, explained in court Wednesday that one October night he and a few friends went to a house in the 600 block of Green Street. He paid $30, scribbled down the age and address his new license would show and stood before a blue screen to have his picture taken, he testified.

A week later, he had an authentic-looking license that got him into any bar in Blacksburg.

Merriman was one of four Tech students - some of whom got lenient treatment for cooperating with police - who testified Wednesday against the person they said sold them their fake licenses, another student named Kelvin Mao, 20.

According to testimony, Mao had been making hundreds of the fake licenses at his Green Street apartment since August and was selling them to Tech students.

Mao, of Emmaus, Pa., was convicted on two counts of making and selling fake licenses and was sentenced to a year in jail and fined $1,000 by Montgomery County General District Judge Thomas Frith.

James Plumley, 19, of Beaver, W.Va., also was charged with making fake licenses. His case was postponed to May 23.

Mao's attorney, David Mullins, who had requested his client perform community service for his sentence, said he would appeal Frith's ruling.

Blacksburg Officer J.G. Frazier, who investigated the case, said the jail sentence was a little unexpected, "but it was fair."

Frazier arrested Mao, Plumley and nine other Tech students earlier this month. Five were charged with possessing fake licenses and four were charged with possessing "holograms."

Holograms are plastic casings that cover Pennsylvania licenses. They contain three-dimensional images intended to prevent counterfeiting and they were what made the fake licenses so authentic.

"I can't tell the difference," Frith said.

Frazier said he was waiting to hear from police in Pennsylvania, who were still looking into whether the holograms were stolen from the motor vehicles department.

Tim Fitzgerald, 18, of Maryland, testified that he bought about 40 holograms from Mao and sold them to another person. Fitzgerald was convicted and, because he cooperated with police in their investigation, was sentenced to 40 hours of community service and eight months in the Young Offenders Program.

Three students charged with possessing holograms also were sent to the program. They are Eric Hall, 19, of Clifton; Keith Quigley, 18, of Annandale; and Michael Kolkhorst, 18. They all live in Pritchard Hall.

Others charged with possessing fake licenses were Tim Merriman and Robert Glista, 19, of Springfield, who were sentenced to the youth program; and Lisa Auleta, 18, of New Jersey, Michael Seelinger, 18, of Falls Church and Keely Monroe, 18, of North Carolina, who were each given eight hours of community service.