Air Sentenced to 21 Months in Federal Prison For Possession of Devices Used to Make Counterfeit Identification
Las Vegas, Nev. - Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada, Doug Coombs Special Agent-in-Charge of the United States Secret Service for Nevada, and Robert N. Carwell, Team Leader of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for Las Vegas, Nevada, announced that LETICIA ANN HANNAH, aka Jamie Paul, and IVAN WILSON, aka IVAN MAY, ages 27 and 33, respectively, Las Vegas residents, were sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Roger L. Hunt in Las Vegas to 21 months in prison for their convictions on possession of devices used to make counterfeit identity documents. HANNAH and WILSON were indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas on June 5, 2002, and charged with Possession of Document-Making Implements and Aiding and Abetting. Both defendants pleaded guilty on August 7, 2002, to Possession of Document-Making Implements.
According to the court records, HANNAH and WILSON were arrested in Las Vegas on May 22, 2002, after law enforcement agents, pursuant to a search warrant, discovered counterfeit drivers licenses, stolen identity documents, identification laminates, a computer program containing templates used to make identification cards or drivers licenses for every state, and other documents, in a Federal Express delivery package addressed to Jamie Paul, HANNAH's alias. Federal agents and local law enforcement officers set up a surveillance operation and apprehended the pair in a minivan at an intersection in Las Vegas. A third person fled from the minivan while law enforcement was following it, and disposed of the Federal Express box containing the counterfeit identity documents in a garbage can. Law enforcement agents later recovered the Federal Express box. A search of the minivan disclosed two computers and a paper bag containing glue sticks, razor blades, paper and pens, items commonly used for the production of identification documents. On the computer hard drive, law enforcement agents found scanned copies of drivers licenses from Nevada and New Jersey, and counterfeit identification documents in the name of HANNAH's alias, Jamie Paul.
The defendants pleaded guilty to possession of the identification laminates; possession of the computer program containing the templates used to make counterfeit identification documents; possession of a template for a Canadian military identification card; and possession of identification and check-cashing cards in other persons names which had been stolen or obtained from the other individuals and contained pictures of the defendants.
Judge Hunt sentenced both defendants to 21 months in prison, ordered them placed on three years of supervised release following their release from prison, and ordered them to pay a $2,000 fine.
The case was investigated by Special Agents of the United States Secret Service and Inspectors of the United States Postal Inspection Service, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon Lever.
