Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 24, 1993 TAG: 9303240177
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
RICHMOND MAN CHARGED WITH LICENSE FALSIFICATION
A Richmond man has been charged with five counts of manufacturing false Virginia drivers' licenses in Radford after a three-month investigation by city and Radford University police and the Department of Motor Vehicles.Charles D. Bates, 19, is accused of using materials stolen in a burglary at the Tappahannock DMV office. He has been charged in Essex County for that offense.
DMV investigators have expanded their investigation to other parts of the state, and more charges - as many as 100 - are expected, according to a news release from Radford police.
Bates is scheduled to appear in Radford General District Court on April 26 for a preliminary hearing. He is not a Radford student.
Jeanne Chenault, a DMV spokeswoman, said its Essex County branch office was broken into last fall and driver's license laminates were taken. State police later charged Bates with breaking into the office and taking them. He is scheduled to be tried April 28 in Essex County Circuit Court.
"The investigation has not been concluded. We are still following leads," Chenault said.
Randal Duncan, commonwealth's attorney, said the Radford investigation began when police officers found that some male college students had fake driver's licenses.
The quality of the faked licenses was so good the only way to distinguish them from authentic licenses was the difference in background shades, Duncan said.
Duncan said authorities learned that false licenses were being manufactured for students by people operating out of a Radford motel. Students paid $50 each for the fake IDs.
Duncan said warrants have been or will be obtained for those students who received the false IDs and for those who participated in the manufacturing.
The DMV and the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department have a task force to combat the manufacture and use of false IDs, Chenault said. About the same time the Essex County office was broken into, the DMV began using digitized licenses that look more like credit cards and have a magnetic strip on the back encoded with information, she said.