Transit Police have arrested three men, two of them originally from the North Shore, in connection with a large counterfeiting scheme.
Elliot Mashford and Alex Lemmon, both 20, were arrested at their Vancouver residence on Oct. 28. Sean Weatherill, also 20, was arrested the same day in Richmond. Mashford is originally from West Vancouver, while Lemmon is a former North Vancouver resident.
All three were wanted in connection with a major counterfeiting scheme that police estimate produced more than 2,000 pieces of counterfeit ID resulting in profits of more than $500,000.
"It started in mid-March of this year as a result of a liquor violation during which counterfeit ID was produced," said Anne Drennan, spokeswoman for the Transit Police. "As a result of our officers spotting the counterfeit ID, we gathered some information about the supplying of youth with counterfeit drivers' licences."
Drennan said the department's Crime Reduction Unit launched an intensive investigation involving extensive surveillance and undercover work.
According to Drennan, Mashford and Lemmon were identified as the leaders of the operation which police believe initially supplied counterfeit ID to juveniles, and then branched out to supply anyone who asked.
"The ID was ordered online with people supplying their picture and personal information," she said.
The IDs ranged from Canadian provincial and U.S. state government, todrivers' licences, medical cards and even university identification.
Police executed a search warrant on Mashford and Lemmon's Vancouver home and found a "factory-style office."
"We seized cellphones, laptops, hard drives, card printers, thousands of blank PVC cards and hundreds of printed counterfeit ID. So effectively a major counterfeit operation was both disrupted and shut down," said Drennan. "There is still forensic examination of the electronic devices that were seized to be completed, but it's believed there are thousands of template IDs stored inside."
The men were not previously known to police. All three have been charged with the selling of forged documents and forgery.
"We know that these kinds of things do exist from time to time," said Drennan. "This is by far the largest operation that we have ever investigated."
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Editor's note: The charges against Elliot Mashford were later stayed.
