License examiner foils fake ID plot
By BETSY FRIEDRICH, Hub Staff Writer
01/14/2008
Updated 01/14/2008 12:18:34 PM CST
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HOLDREGE — Four men in the country illegally from Mexico were arrested Friday after allegedly trying to obtain fake Nebraska identification cards.

Phelps County Sheriff Tom Nutt said four men came into the Phelps County driver’s license examiner’s office Friday morning and tried to file applications for the ID cards using fake names. Nutt said the men had other false identification that they used to try to obtain the cards.

A Nebraska identification card is a state-issued ID card that does not grant driving privileges. Two forms of identification are required to obtain the card.

The examiner called law enforcement, and following an investigation by the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, Holdrege Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Nebraska Driver’s License Division, five people were detained in the Phelps County Justice Center.

After questioning, four adult men who had been living in Grand Island were arrested for false application for a Nebraska identification card, a Class I misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail, a $1,000 fine or both.

An adult female who was interpreting for the men was released when she agreed to help with the investigation. She was in the country legally.

It was determined that the men were in the United States illegally from Mexico, and they are being held in the Phelps County Justice Center for ICE.

Tim Counts, an ICE spokesman, said the men would go through the court system, and if convicted, would face punishment before they would be released to ICE.
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