Man charged with using fake ID
4/19/2008 6:55:05 AM

By Tim Ruzek

Post-Bulletin, Austin MN

A 33-year-old rural Austin man is facing criminal charges for allegedly using another person's identity, explaining to a state trooper that "everybody does it," according to court documents.

Ezequiel Ramirez-Garcia, also known as Juan Antonio Guadalupe Martinez, is charged in Mower District Court with a single felony count of aggravated forgery as well as lesser charges of driving after cancellation and having no insurance.

On Tuesday, a judge set conditional bail for Ramirez-Garcia at $10,000, records show.

According to the criminal complaint, a state trooper stopped Ramirez-Garcia's vehicle about 8:50 p.m. Sunday going east on Interstate 90 after finding that the vehicle's registered owner had a canceled driver's license.

Ramirez-Garcia gave the trooper a Mexican ID card identifying himself by his real identity, the complaint says. The trooper then showed him in the squad car the Minnesota driver's license photograph of Ramirez-Garcia under the false identity.

The complaint says Ramirez-Garcia told the trooper he got the state ID card by submitting a Social Security number and birth certificate he had purchased.

The Juan Martinez identity has four vehicles registered under it.

Ramirez-Garcia is to return to court April 24.

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