Youth Accused of Altering Driver’s Licenses

An 18-year-old high school senior from Irvine has been arrested on suspicion of doctoring as many as 250 driver’s licenses, usually to change birth dates, a business that allegedly netted him $1,000 a week, authorities said Wednesday.

Irvine police estimated that Paul Howard Schwartz had altered the licenses, mainly for teen-agers in Orange and Los Angeles counties, since January.

Police said Schwartz altered driver’s licenses to specifications for $60 a license.

“In our undercover operation, we ordered six new IDs from him, telling him that they were for a criminal who needed new identification, and he made them for us,” Sgt. Leo Jones said.

Police Tuesday arrested Schwartz, a University High School senior, on suspicion of counterfeiting state documents, a felony. He was released to his parents, Jones said.

Schwartz said Wednesday night, “From what I hear, the police’s press release about this is pretty inflated, but I really don’t care to comment.”

The youth faces more than 100 felony charges--one charge “for each fictitious license produced,” Jones said. State law provides for up to a year in prison for each conviction of a charge of “counterfeit of a state seal.”