UGA police charge 14 in suspected fake ID ring

Published 10:37 am Tuesday, March 27, 2007

ATHENS (AP) — University of Georgia police have charged 14 students after investigating allegations of a fake ID distribution ring based at the school.

Police charged two students whose dorm room was raided March 1 on charges of distribution of fake IDs and possession of fake IDs with intent to distribute.

Police charged 11 other UGA students, including freshman offensive lineman Tanner Strickland, as well as a Gainesville State College student, with possessing fake IDs, UGA police Lt. Lisa Boone said.

The investigation began when U.S. postal inspectors in Phoenix, who had gotten an anonymous tip, told UGA police that someone at the school may have shipped fake IDs to students at other universities, said Patricia Armstrong, a postal inspector in Arizona.

The shipment’s return address was a UGA dorm room, occupied by Juan Sebastian Calle of Roswell and Eric David Spett of Atlanta.

Police charged Calle with three counts each of distributing a fake ID and possessing a fake ID, and one count of possessing a fake ID with intent to distribute. Spett was charged with possessing a fake ID and possessing a fake ID with intent to distribute, according to UGA police.

A search of the dorm room and interviews led police to the other 12 students who have been charged with possessing fake IDs, UGA Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said.

“(The case) is pretty much concluded, but there is the potential for more arrests,” Williamson said.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation experts still are searching a seized computer for additional information but police expect that most of what they find will support their charges against the current suspects, Williamson said.