http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/89482.php

Published: 08.20.2005

Two charged with making fake IDs to smuggle people across the border
By Alexis Huicochea
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Two men who attended college in Tucson were indicted Friday, charged with making fake identification cards that would be used to smuggle illegal entrants into the country, officials said.

Grant William Coxon and Lloyd R. Berry, both 21, were accused of illegally conducting an enterprise and forgery, according to a news release from the Attorney General's Office and the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control.

The men were taking personal information and photos to produce fake IDs that were sold for hundreds of dollars, the release said.

Undercover investigators received multiple fake Washington state driver's licenses from Coxon after telling him they would be used to smuggle illegal entrants into the United States, the release said.

Coxon was a student at the University of Arizona at the time and Berry was attending Pima Community College, said Andrea Esquer, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office. They had been producing the IDs over a three-month period between March and June of this year.

"They weren't just catering to underage college students," said Attorney General Terry Goddard in the release. "This investigation stopped a fake ID pipeline that could have served human smugglers and even potential terrorists."

Coxon, of Phoenix, was also indicted on nine counts of forgery and one count of criminal possession of a forgery device, the release said. He faces a maximum of 14 years in prison.

Berry, a Tucson resident, is facing a maximum seven years in prison if convicted.

They will be arraigned in Pima County Superior Court on Aug. 30.