NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

JANUARY 23, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KANSAS MAN SENTENCED FOR COUNTERFEIT

DRIVER’S LICENSES

PRODUCED COUNTERFEIT ID DOCUMENTS,

TRAFFICKED IN STOLEN IDENTITIES

            SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Kan., man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing dozens of counterfeit driver’s licenses as well as implements used to make more identification documents.

             David Lorenzo Fletcher, 42, of Kansas City, Kan., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays this afternoon to eight years and five months in federal prison without parole.

             On Sept. 11, 2008, Fletcher pleaded guilty to producing counterfeit identification documents and trafficking in stolen identities. Fletcher admitted that he trafficked in false identification documents, identities, and checks of persons and entities in multiple states, traveling between the states of Kansas, Texas and Missouri with those documents and document-making implements.

             Fletcher was originally arrested by a state trooper following a traffic stop on Interstate 44 in Jasper County, Mo., on April 19, 2007. In searching Fletcher’s vehicle, officers found 66 counterfeit Missouri driver’s licenses (28 of which displayed his photograph but with different names and dates of birth); five Social Security cards belonging to other persons; six false temporary driving permits from the state of Texas; six forged payroll checks, $3,909 in cash, most of which was scattered around the inside of the vehicle; scrap paper on which was recorded 130 different identities (containing dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and driver’s license numbers), 103 additional Social Security numbers and job application forms containing applicants’ personal information from “Reset,” a Kansas Department of Human Services program in which he had been enrolled. Fletcher also possessed counterfeit checks purportedly from several different businesses; approximately 50 personal and business checks belonging to other individuals and approximately 30 photocopied payroll checks from various businesses.

             Officers also discovered implements that Fletcher intended to use to create more identification documents – a laptop computer, a scanner/copier, a color printer, a digital camera, a thumb drive, an identification card maker, two packages of blank identification cards, computer programs for check-writing and photo imaging and packages of blank printer checks.

             In Fletcher’s vehicle, officers also found an envelope containing various legal documents relating to his previous indictments and convictions for fraud, forgery and counterfeiting. At the time he committed the federal offenses, Fletcher was serving a term of probation for his convictions on three counts of forgery in Jackson County, Mo.

             After being released on bond following his arrest, Fletcher absconded and remained a fugitive from justice for nearly a year. He was arrested by Fort Worth, Texas, police officers following a foot chase on April 8, 2008.

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Mohlhenrich. It was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.