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Internet False ID Scam Defendants Sentenced
March 22, 2001
Washington, D.C. - United States Attorney Wilma A. Lewis announced today that four individuals have been sentenced for their guilty pleas to federal charges stemming from a scheme in which they defrauded consumers of money by advertising for sale on the Internet false identification documents and failing to provide those documents to the consumers who had mailed them cash and money orders. The mastermind of the scheme, defendant Anthony W. Wright, age 31, of Atlanta, Georgia, had pleaded guilty to mail fraud. Tavares Owens, age 35, of Upper Malboro, MD, and Clarence Howard, age 32, from Capitol Heights, MD, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, while D’Artangnon M. Barnes, age 26, of Germantown, MD, pled guilty to fraud in connection with identification documents.
According to information provided to the Court by Assistant United States Attorney Miriam Smolen, from February 2000, through August, 2000, Anthony W. Wright directed his co-defendants in a scheme to defraud consumers of money by advertising for sale on the Internet false identification products, such as drivers’ licenses and state identification cards, causing people to mail cash and money orders to various mail boxes, and failing to provide those products to the consumers. During this time period, over 2000 people mailed orders for false identification documents with an average payment of $100 in cash or money orders. Four hundred and fifteen victims, responding to a questionnaire from the government, reported they never received any of the documents they ordered; in total, these victims lost $51,200.
Anthony W. Wright registered, created and maintained four Websites on the Internet under the domain names of "fake-id.org," "id-2000.net," "false-id.net," and "identification-cards.com." Proclaiming "Quality so real -- It hurts!," the Websites advertised for sale fake and false identification documents, such as driver’s licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards, and degrees from universities. Anthony W. Wright, who was responsible for the Website content, described the quality of the identification documents for sale as "high quality products," that would "match the most current version of any states’ ID, including holograms and the new PVC plastic cards (credit card style)," using "templates hav[ing] the same state seals, signatures, stamps, watermarks and security measures as the original state ID’s." In the HTML language, which Internet search engines use to find Websites, Anthony Wright wrote, "We are here to sell you all the fake IDs, drivers licenses, passports, drivers licenses, birth certificates you are NOT legally allowed to own." The images of the licenses and identifications on the Websites were actual copies of real drivers’ licenses which had been scanned into computerized form from a publication which prints pictures of all states’ licenses.
Each Website had an order form which directed the customer to send only cash or a money order to an address. These addresses were mailboxes that had been opened by Tavares Owens, Clarence Howard and D’Artangnon Barnes, acting under Wright’s directions, in four different states, including the District of Columbia, and the Grand Caymans. Owens, Howard and Barnes would collect the mail and forward it to Anthony Wright, who kept the cash and money orders, and threw away the customers’ order forms. From February to August 2000, Anthony Wright deposited over $170,000 in his bank accounts derived from this scheme. Wright paid his co-defendants a share of the proceeds from the money they stole. No identification documents were ever produced.
United States District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson found that Anthony Wright was the leader and organizer of the criminal scheme and sentenced him to 21 months incarceration. Anthony Wright also forfeited to the United States two bank accounts totaling $38,000, which are available to repay consumers for their losses. Judge Jackson also sentenced Tavares Owens and D’artangnon Barnes to a period of probation with six months home detention, and Clarence Howard to a period of probation.
In announcing the sentencings, United States Attorney Lewis praised the superb investigative work of United States Postal Inspector James Factor, and commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Miriam M. Smolen who prosecuted the case.
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