Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 5, 1990 TAG: 9005040681
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
That changed in 1985 when the General Assemply stepped up the punishment for those who alter state licenses.
After that, students began finding very creative - and illegal - ways to pass themselves off at bars as being of legal drinking age.
Now, the fake ID business in Blacksburg appears to be thriving.
In fact, recently the problem hasn't been fake ID users as much as fake ID makers.
In the past month, Blacksburg police arrested six students in connection with manufacturing fake IDs and and Tech police arrested three more.
"There's always an entrepeneur out there looking to make a buck," said Blacksburg Police Chief Don Carey. "And with the majority of students underaged, there's a big marketplace."
About 80 percent of Tech's 18,000 undergraduate students are under the legal drinking age of 21.
"And as long as the drinking age is 21, there's going to be people trying to get around it. We just have to try to keep up with them," Carey said.
Virginia Tech Police Chief Mike Jones said the problem is frustrating because every time police think they're catching on, the students find a new way to beat the system.
"I've had some [fake IDs] I had to look at for 15 to 20 minutes to tell what was wrong," said Tech Officer Leigh Collins.
Jones recently showed a reporter a large piece of cardboard shaped and designed like a West Virginia driver's license. The students arrested for manufacturing fake IDs had been taking pictures of students standing next to the cardboard and then laminating a cutout of the resulting photograph.
"They'll go to great lengths to make these things," Jones said.
The problem is a tricky one for local bar owners who thrive on the students' business but are held liable for underage students caught drinking in their bars.
And while all local bars check IDs, some fake ones have become so authentic it's difficult even for police to tell the difference. So for a bouncer taking no more than a quick glance at a few hundred licenses each night, it's tough to catch the fake ones.
"They're learning the tricks of the trade, I guess," said Victor Dritselis, manager of Crickett's Restaurant, a popular hangout on Main Street in Blacksburg. "They're so realistic we can't tell the difference. That's the major problem we've had with these IDs."
Dritselis said because fake IDs have become so good, more underage students this year have gotten past doormen and into his bar to drink than last year.
If Dritselis catches students using a fake ID, he gives first-time offenders a warning. The second time, he rips up the ID or calls the police, he said.
Bar owners are hardly the only ones troubled by the fake ID market. Fake ID use also causes problems for:
\ Virginia Tech: Since nothing has seemed to discourage students, the school must seek new ways to teach students some of the serious consequences of getting caught with a fake ID.
\ Local police: It is a constant battle for Blacksburg and Tech police to keep up with the ever-changing methods of altering licenses or purchasing authentic-looking fake ones.
\ Courts and judges: They must handle hundreds of fake ID cases each year - an average of one in 10 most Wednesdays in Montgomery County General District Court in Blacksburg. And they must wrestle with ways to punish violators and discourage other students from using fake IDs.
\ The student: If a person is convicted of making fake IDs or selling them to others, that could be - and has been, for previously convicted students - a permanent blemish on their record that could hurt future job prospects or, for example, keep them out of law school.
"About one third of those charged [with an ID offense] are truly surprised at the possible consequences," said Piper Durrell, a lawyer who provides free legal advice to students through Virginia Tech Student Legal Services.
One unexpected consequence was the recent sentencing of Kelvin Mao, 20, of Emmaus, Pa., to a year in jail after being convicted for making fake Pennsylvania driver's licenses and selling hundreds of them for $30 to students.
The jail sentence was a message General District Judge Thomas Frith sent to let students know he's fed up, Durrell and others have said. Frith has made public his disgust with the number of fake ID violators, which has increased since last year.
Tech is bolstering its efforts to teach students about alcohol-related crimes and to punish those who don't get the message, said Dean of Students Julie Sina.
In August, a $100,000 grant from the 1986 Drug Free School Act will fund a six-seminar alcohol program that students arrested on alcohol violations must complete. It will be run by the school's judicial services.
Also, freshman orientation this year will include a seminar on the risks of alcohol, which will be followed by a trip to Tech's alcohol-free club, After Hours.
"We're trying to send a pretty strong message there," Sina said.
But for those who don't get the message the first time around, they may have to learn it in court or in the new Young Offenders Program, an alcohol counseling program that many fake ID violators and underage drinkers are sent to by Frith.
by CNB