United States v. Spears, No. 11-1683 (7th Cir. 2012)
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Spears created and sold counterfeit documents, including fake Indiana driver’s licenses and handgun permits. He was convicted of aggravated identity theft, producing a false identification document and unlawfully possessing five or more false identification documents, 18 U.S.C. 1028A(a). The Seventh Circuit affirmed as to aggravated identity theft. Spears sold his customer a fraudulent handgun permit bearing her own identifying information, which she then used in an attempt to buy a firearm, violating 18 U.S.C. 922(a)(6), a qualifying predicate felony for aggravated identity theft. The statute covers more than misappropriation of another person’s identifying information; a person commits aggravated identity theft when he “knowingly transfers, . . . without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person” during or in relation to a predicate felony. The Court also affirmed conviction for producing a false identification document. The fake driver’s license underlying this count was sufficiently realistic that a reasonable jury could conclude that it appears to be issued by the State of Indiana. A reasonable jury could also conclude that Spears’s production of the fraudulent driver’s license affected interstate commerce. The evidence was insufficient to sustain conviction for unlawful possession of five or more false identification documents.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on February 12, 2013.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on September 6, 2013.
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