Irvine Police Offered Own IDs for Doctoring : How Bogus-License Shop Was Exposed

Irvine police became suspicious months ago when an increasing number of drivers they stopped possessed doctored driver’s licenses. Most of those with the fake identification were young people, Irvine Police Sgt. Leo Jones said.

“Patrol officers were beginning to bring in quite a number of fraudulent documents, through traffic stops, other arrests,” Jones said Thursday. “They were so frequent, so we told the officers to interview these people. And we finally got one who helped us make a contact.”

That is how officers learned about Paul Howard Schwartz, 18, a senior at Irvine’s University High School, who was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of operating a $1,000-a-week business doctoring up to 250 licenses for customers, Jones said.

Most were being altered for people ages 16 to 18--those most likely to use fake IDs to gain entry into nightclubs or buy liquor, Jones said.

Police are continuing their investigation into the operation and plan to take the case to the district attorney’s office this week, Jones said.

The state Department of Motor Vehicles is also considering revoking or suspending the licenses of all customers who had their licenses altered, he said.

Schwartz was released on his own recognizance to his parents, Jones said Thursday. Schwartz was not available for comment.

At Schwartz’s home, Irvine officers confiscated more than 100 valid driver’s licenses in various stages of being altered, said Jones, who added that just 25 of the licenses had Irvine addresses.

Irvine police first contacted Schwartz at the end of April, when undercover officers ordered doctored driver’s licenses from him, turning over to him some of their own licenses, including Jones’.

When Schwartz saw Jones’ license, he asked one of the undercover officers why someone who was obviously older than 21 wanted a doctored license.

“Because he’s a criminal, and he wants to hide his identity,” the undercover officers told Schwartz, according to Jones.

“He really wasn’t interested,” Jones said of Schwartz. “He was a little paranoid and cautious at first. But apparently we gave him a suitable answer.”

To the untrained eye, the altered licenses would be unlikely to raise suspicion, Jones said. “They were very good counterfeits. A trained observer, upon close examination, could see the difference. But if you were in a hurry and someone just flashed you a wallet, it could have passed with no problem.”

He said Schwartz also apparently kept reproductions of some of the altered licenses and was peddling them as well.

Officers found an extra copy of Jones’ license at Schwartz’s home when he was arrested, Jones said.

University High Principal Bob Bruce declined to comment on Schwartz, calling the incident a police matter, but he talked about why young people might want fake driver’s licenses.

“If you’re a young person in Orange County, what do you do?” Bruce asked. “We don’t have a lot of so-called wholesome activities. We have a few social activities, but most of the businesses that cater to those kinds of kids, you don’t see much anymore, such as bowling alleys, skating rinks. . . . There’s not much for kids left to do.

“If you’re not quite 21, what do you do?

“We need a planned approach to providing more wholesome activities for kids, in my view, more rental agreements, more tax agreements or other things to make it more economically feasible to get more of these kinds of places.”