Criminal Defense | Possession of False Identification
It is not uncommon for young adults in Ocean County and Monmouth County, New Jersey to carry a “fake I.D.” Police in New Jersey who come into contact with individuals carrying fake I.D.’s frequently charge those individuals with a crime. Possession of false identification can lead to a serious criminal charge. If you have been criminally charged because you possessed false identification, you need the help of an experienced criminal defense lawyer with particular experience defending clients against the charge of tampering with public records or information.
Carmine R. Villani, Esquire, is a partner in the law firm of Villani & DeLuca, P.C., which is headquartered in Point Pleasant Beach, Ocean County, New Jersey. Mr. Villani is an experienced NJ criminal defense attorney who has been defending clients charged with criminal offenses in Ocean County and Monmouth County for more than 18 years.
Partly because of the heightened sensitivity to the use of false identification in an age of terrorism, possession of false identification is taken very seriously by law enforcement. You should take the fact you’ve been criminally charged in connection with possession of false identification no less seriously. While each case has its own unique facts, a criminal charge in connection with the possession of false identification could result is the loss of your driver’s license, and/or possible jail time.
Depending on the specific facts of your case, a charge of tampering with public records or information can be a third degree offense, a fourth degree offense, or a disorderly person offense, as provided under New Jersey Statute 2C: 28-7. You need to protect your future by talking to an experienced New Jersey criminal defense lawyer about the facts of your case.
Typically, the offense charged will be in the third degree in cases where you are alleged to have intended to defraud or injure another person in connection with tampering with public records or information.
If your driving privilege is taken away because you are convicted of tampering with public records or information, the court will set the term for which you will not be able to drive, a term which must be no less than six months and which may not exceed two years in duration. If you are younger than 17 years of age on the day of sentencing, those same time periods of license suspension apply, but will not begin to run until the day after you turn 17 years of age.
The possible loss of driving privileges for a time is no small matter. Nor is it a small matter to be convicted of even a disorderly persons offense. Conviction of a third degree offense is certainly something to be avoided if at all possible.
Call Carmine R. Villani, Esquire today at 732-892-9050. You owe it to your future.
N.J.S.A. 2C: 28-7. Tampering with public records of information.
a. Offense defined. A person commits an offense if he:
(1) Knowingly makes a false entry in, or false alteration of, any record, document or thing belonging to, or received or kept by, the government for information or record, or required by law to be kept by others for information of the government;
(2) Makes, presents, offers for filing, or uses any record, document or thing knowing it to be false, and with purpose that it be taken as a genuine part of information or records referred to in paragraph (1); or
(3) Purposely and unlawfully destroys, conceals, removes, mutilates, or otherwise impairs the verity or availability of any such record, document or thing.
b. Grading. An offense under subsection a. is a disorderly persons offense unless the actor's purpose is to defraud or injure anyone, in which case the offense is a crime of the third degree.
c. A person commits a crime of the fourth degree if he purposely and unlawfully alters, destroys, conceals, removes or disables any camera or other monitoring device including any videotape, film or other medium used to record sound or images that is installed in a patrol vehicle.
L.1978, c.95; amended 2001, c.219.
N.J.S.A. 2C: 21-2.1. Offenses involving false government documents, degree of crime.
a. A person who knowingly sells, offers or exposes for sale, or otherwise transfers, or possesses with the intent to sell, offer or expose for sale, or otherwise transfer, a document, printed form or other writing which falsely purports to be a driver's license, birth certificate or other document issued by a governmental agency and which could be used as a means of verifying a person's identity or age or any other personal identifying information is guilty of a crime of the second degree.
b. A person who knowingly makes, or possesses devices or materials to make, a document or other writing which falsely purports to be a driver's license, birth certificate or other document issued by a governmental agency and which could be used as a means of verifying a person's identity or age or any other personal identifying information is guilty of a crime of the second degree.
c. A person who knowingly exhibits, displays or utters a document or other writing which falsely purports to be a driver's license, birth certificate or other document issued by a governmental agency and which could be used as a means of verifying a person's identity or age or any other personal identifying information is guilty of a crime of the third degree. A violation of N.J.S.2C:28-7, constituting a disorderly persons offense, section 1 of P.L.1979, c.264 (C.2C:33-15), R.S.33:1-81 or section 6 of P.L.1968, c.313 (C.33:1-81.7) in a case where the person uses the personal identifying information of another to illegally purchase an alcoholic beverage or for using the personal identifying information of another to misrepresent his age for the purpose of obtaining tobacco or other consumer product denied to persons under 18 years of age shall not constitute an offense under this subsection if the actor received only that benefit or service and did not perpetrate or attempt to perpetrate any additional injury or fraud on another.
d. A person who knowingly possesses a document or other writing which falsely purports to be a driver's license, birth certificate or other document issued by a governmental agency and which could be used as a means of verifying a person's identity or age or any other personal identifying information is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree. A violation of N.J.S.2C:28-7, constituting a disorderly persons offense, section 1 of P.L.1979, c.264 (C.2C:33-15), R.S.33:1-81 or section 6 of P.L.1968, c.313 (C.33:1-81.7) in a case where the person uses the personal identifying information of another to illegally purchase an alcoholic beverage or for using the personal identifying information of another to misrepresent his age for the purpose of obtaining tobacco or other consumer product denied to persons under 18 years of age shall not constitute an offense under this subsection if the actor received only that benefit or service and did not perpetrate or attempt to perpetrate any additional injury or fraud on another.
e. In addition to any other disposition authorized by this Title, the provisions of section 24 of P.L.1982, c.77 (C.2A:4A-43), or any other statute indicating the dispositions that may be ordered for an adjudication of delinquency, and, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection c. of N.J.S.2C:43-2, every person convicted of or adjudicated delinquent for a violation of any offense defined in this section shall forthwith forfeit his right to operate a motor vehicle over the highways of this State for a period to be fixed by the court at not less than six months or more than two years which shall commence on the day the sentence is imposed. In the case of any person who at the time of the imposition of the sentence is less than 17 years of age, the period of the suspension of driving privileges authorized herein, including a suspension of the privilege of operating a motorized bicycle, shall commence on the day the sentence is imposed and shall run for a period as fixed by the court of not less than six months or more than two years after the day the person reaches the age of 17 years. If the driving privilege of any person is under revocation, suspension, or postponement for a violation of any provision of this Title or Title 39 of the Revised Statutes at the time of any conviction or adjudication of delinquency for a violation of any offense defined in this chapter or chapter 36 of this Title, the revocation, suspension, or postponement period imposed herein shall commence as of the date of termination of the existing revocation, suspension or postponement.
The court before whom any person is convicted of or adjudicated delinquent for a violation of any offense defined in this section shall collect forthwith the New Jersey driver's license or licenses of that person and forward the license or licenses to the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission along with a report indicating the first and last day of the suspension or postponement period imposed by the court pursuant to this section. If the court is for any reason unable to collect the license or licenses of the person, the court shall cause a report of the conviction or adjudication of delinquency to be filed with the director. The report shall include the complete name, address, date of birth, eye color and sex of the person and shall indicate the first and last day of the suspension or postponement period imposed by the court pursuant to this section. The court shall inform the person orally and in writing that if the person is convicted of personally operating a motor vehicle during the period of license suspension or postponement imposed pursuant to this section, the person shall, upon conviction, be subject to the penalties set forth in R.S.39:3-40. A person shall be required to acknowledge receipt of the written notice in writing. Failure to receive a written notice or failure to acknowledge in writing the receipt of a written notice shall not be a defense to a subsequent charge of a violation of R.S.39:3-40. If the person is the holder of a driver's license from another jurisdiction, the court shall not collect the license, but shall notify forthwith the director who shall notify the appropriate officials in that licensing jurisdiction. The court shall, however, in accordance with the provisions of this section, revoke the person's non-resident driving privileges in this State.
In addition to any other condition imposed, a court, in its discretion, may suspend, revoke or postpone the driving privileges of a person admitted to supervisory treatment under N.J.S.2C:36A-1 or N.J.S.2C:43-12 without a plea of guilty or finding of guilt.
L.1983, c.565, s.1; amended 1999, c.28, s.14; 2002, c.85, s.3; 2003, c.184, s.2; 2005, c.224, s.1.
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