Using a fake ID can seem harmless, but the legal ramifications are serious.
By Katelyn Weisbrod | [email protected]
Your fake ID is illegal. But just how illegal it is depends on how you got it.
Underage students looking to stay in a bar past 10 p.m. or drink alcohol without getting ticketed use three ways to obtain a fake ID: They can use the ID of someone who is 21, create their own, or pay to have an ID created with their face and a fake birth date.
And legally, they aren’t the same.
Using an ID that was issued by the state of Iowa but to someone else is a simple misdemeanor. This is true for those who lend out their old IDs, as well.
But owning a truly fake ID — whether created on a dorm-room computer or an international website, something students are using more and more — are serious misdemeanors, which result in jail time and fines. The maximum penalty is one year in jail, a fine of $1,875, and a driver’s license suspension of up to six months, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation.
And creating a do-it-yourself ID is a felony.
According to the Iowa Code, falsifying public documents, such as a driver’s license, is a Class-D felony. The minimum penalty is “a minimum of 30 days and up to five years in prison, a suspension of driving privileges for up to six months, and a fine of at least $750 but not more than $7,500.”
But not every underager creates her or his fake ID. Others opt to order them online.
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There are online services — and they often operate in other countries — that ask their users to provide their own photos and information. Then, the services will mail an ID to the customer with all of the users’ information, except with a new birthdate that will make the user of legal age.
But many students choose to take the risk in order to gain entry into bars after 10 p.m., to buy drinks at restaurants, and to shop at the liquor store — and they often get away with it.
A 17-year-old University of Iowa freshman who asked not to be named said she has a real, but expired, ID of a 23-year-old woman with similar looks. She said she uses the ID almost every weekend and has not had any issues with it yet.
“It gets me everywhere,” she said. “I’m always worried about having it, but I’m also always really aware of it, and I always have my real ID with me so if I need it I have it.”
The student said she knows the laws and understands the risk of using the ID but said it does not stop her.
“I haven’t gotten caught, so I see it as worth it to have a fake ID,” she said. “I feel perfectly fine using it, after the first few times I got over the nervousness of it.”
On the other hand, Iowa City police Officer David Schwindt said having a fake ID is not worth the long-term effects of the misdemeanors.
“Using a fake ID in Iowa is committing a crime, so you have to be lucky every time you do it, and the police only have to be lucky once to catch you,” Schwindt said. “Know if you’re going to go out and use it and you get caught, that’s on you and those consequences can be long-term.”
The police also make sure that bars, restaurants, and liquor stores are keeping an eye out for fake IDs by using people under 21 to try to buy alcohol at establishments.
These businesses can defend themselves against hefty fines by having their employees go through an online program called the Iowa Program for Alcohol Compliance Training. If employees have gone through the program and gets caught selling alcohol to a minor, they are held personally responsible and the business is exempt from punishment.
Mondo’s, 112 E. College St., requires its employees to go through the program. Mondo’s bartender Shelby Leisinger said she learned what to look for to spot a fake ID.
“I look for if the pictures been planted and where the date and the signature are,” Leisinger said. “If it’s an Iowa or Illinois ID, I have a really good idea of where everything is supposed to be; when it’s other states, that’s when it gets tricky.”