Man Accused of Selling Phony ID Cards : Crime: Police say the Tarzana printer had a nationwide operation selling college identification cards to underage students.

A Tarzana man has been arrested for operating a business that supplied hundreds of phony identification cards to underage students across the country, apparently to use to buy alcoholic drinks, Los Angeles police said Thursday.

Alan Sturm, 52, was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of forgery of government seals, a felony carrying a penalty of up to one year in jail. He was released on $1,000 bail.

Sturm was arrested after two rookie female police officers posing as minors went to his tiny office in the corner of a Reseda shopping strip and asked for IDs that would show them to be over 21, said Sgt. Richard Ackerman of the West Valley vice squad.

There were 10 other underage youths, including one who drove to the office from Huntington Beach, waiting in line for phony ID cards, Ackerman said.

Sturm was arrested after making photo identification cards from West Virginia and the University of Charleston for one officer, and ID cards from Maryland and Morgan State University for the other, Ackerman said.

Ackerman said the IDs, complete with false birth dates showing the women to be over 21, looked legitimate and even carried state seals. “Most people, especially any bartender, wouldn’t think twice about these,” Ackerman said.

Police seized records that indicated Sturm had made at least $60,000 this year selling phony identification cards for $50 each, Ackerman said. Officers also found mail-in requests for cards from underage students from as far away as Charleston, S.C., Ackerman said.

Sturm used several different states and universities for the credentials, according to police, and kept a Morgan State University sweat shirt for customers to wear while posing for a photo ID from that school.

Ackerman said it appears that Sturm generated his business through word of mouth and flyers he asked his customers to give out and send to friends. Sturm operates a legitimate printing business in Tarzana during the day and worked at night and by appointment at the phony ID business on Tampa Avenue near Topham Street, Ackerman said.

The investigation began after Ventura police reported confiscating phony ID cards from minors who said they got them from Sturm, he said.

Sturm’s customers were required to sign a disclaimer agreeing not to use the cards to misrepresent their age, but Ackerman said the business was illegal anyway.