8 Arrested on Forgery Charge in Canoga Park Counterfeiting Ring

A sophisticated counterfeiting ring in Canoga Park produced thousands of fake driver’s licenses, immigration cards and other official papers that were almost impossible to distinguish from genuine documents, the Los Angeles Police Department said Friday.

Eight suspects, believed to be Mexican citizens, were arrested Thursday on suspicion of forgery of state documents, said Detective Bob Graybill of the auto theft task force.

The “quality of this paper work was absolutely perfect,” Graybill said.

The ring is believed to have taken in $8,000 a week from the sale of counterfeit documents, including driver’s licenses, immigration cards, Social Security cards, certificates of title for vehicles and birth certificates from the United States and Mexico, Graybill said.

The counterfeiting ring stands out from others previously discovered because of the large variety of documents produced and because of the high quality of the documents, said Vito Scattaglia, commander of the Department of Motor Vehicles bureau of investigation.

Scattaglia said Thursday’s discovery signaled that similar counterfeiting operations may be more widespread in the San Fernando Valley than previously thought. He said documents produced by the ring could explain a rise in the sale of stolen vehicles in the Valley in the last six months.

Acting on a tip, an undercover officer from the DMV bought a fake driver’s license for $60 and other phony documents from several of the suspects in a parking lot outside a Mexican meat market in Canoga Park, Graybill said. The documents were produced at a nearby apartment where authorities later seized cameras, special typewriters and cutting and laminating machines, Graybill said.

Counterfeit certificates of title are used to sell stolen cars by crooks who advertise a used car at a low price, Scattaglia said. The thieves arrange to meet unsuspecting buyers at public parking lots and sell the cars for cash.

“It’s only when these people go to the DMV to complete the transfer of the sale that they discover the titles are counterfeit,” Scattaglia said. “The car is then impounded and the buyer is out of a car and the money.”

Scattaglia said the phony driver’s licenses are used to pass stolen checks at local businesses and that fake immigration cards are used to gain jobs or to benefit from government welfare programs.

Graybill said it is unknown exactly how many counterfeit documents the ring produced, but he said authorities plan to track down some of its customers.