Prohibits the criminal sale of forged instruments

Summary of provisions of bill

Section 1 amends penal law § 170.00 by adding new subdivision 9 defining the term sell.

Section 2 amends penal law § 170.05, forgery in the third degree, an A misdemeanor, to include the sale of a forged instrument.

Section 3 amends penal law § 170.10, forgery in the second degree, a D Felony, to include the sale of a forged instrument and removes government documents from the list of second degree forgeries.

Section 4 amends penal law § 170.15, forgery in the first degree, a C felony, to include the sale of a forged instrument and includes government documents within the list of first degree forgeries.

Section 5 adds penal law § 170.26 creating a presumption that a person who possesses two or more forged government documents depicting a person other than himself intends to sell said forged documents.

Sections 6 and 7 clarify that possession of a forged government document remains a second degree crime, punishable as a D felony.

Section 8 establishes the effective date.

Justification

The manufacture and sale of forged government documents ("Fake IDs") facilitate a broad array of serious harms locally, statewide and on a national level. These include relatively minor but socially damaging harms like public nuisance and quality of life violations, as well as indisputably grave ills such as identity theft and fraud, increased alcohol related fatalities among minors, and the evasion of detection by sex offenders, drunken drivers, and aliens with violent criminal records. Fake IDs have even played critical roles in a number of terrorist plots, some of which have been thwarted, others of which have ended in tragedy.

Over the past several years, multiple media outlets have published reports on the open sale of Fake IDs on the street corners of Roosevelt Avenue, right in the heart of my district. This sort of open lawlessness is what prevents Roosevelt Avenue from realizing its potential as a thriving commercial area. Just recently, a group of Fake ID manufacturers and sellers based in lower Manhattan were charged with using forged government documents to misappropriate the identities of more than 180 New Yorkers and steal in excess of $1

million. In 2009, 45 New York minors died while driving drunk and another 279 were arrested for DUIs. Many, if not most, of those minors purchased alcohol using Fake IDs. Most chillingly, in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks it was discovered that all 19 hijackers had fraudulently obtained or fake Social Security numbers and 18 of the 19 possessed fraudulently obtained or phony driver's licenses or motor vehicle ID cards. There is no end to these stories.

Although New York law enforcement officers and prosecutors have done a remarkable job combating the manufacture and sale of Fake IDs, notably through prolonged undercover investigations, the current Fake ID laws contain a number of gaps that we as lawmakers should feel obligated to close. This legislation will close those gaps.

This bill will deter street-corner ID peddlers by explicitly making it a crime to sell or offer for sale forged government documents, raising the quality of life in places like Roosevelt Avenue. It also makes it clear for the first time that the sale of any forged instrument is an equivalent crime to the forgery of the same instrument. In recognition of the unique dangers posed by Fake IDs this bill raises the penalty for the sale or manufacture of a forged government document from a D felony to a C felony. However, the bill also brings the prohibition against forged government documents into line with other contraband laws such as those regulating narcotics, by making it a lesser crime to possess a fake ID than to sell or manufacture one. Finally, the bill creates a presumption that a person who possesses two or more Fake IDs depicting a person other than the possessor intends to sell said IDs and may be charged as such. With these gaps filled, New York law enforcement and prosecutors will have the tools they need to improve upon their already commendable track record in the fight against Fake IDs.

Legislative history

2013-2014 - S.129 (Passed Senate) 2011-12: S.6292

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

None noted.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.