SoHo Patrolling Officers Crack Down on Fake IDs

Tampa Police Officer Brian Morales is 35 years old, 5 feet 4 inches tall, and married with two kids.

Officer Jason Cella is 34 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall, and lives a single life.

Morales’ favorite dish is chicken wings, while Cella can never make up his mind between Chinese and Italian food.

Morales likes the Bucs and watches NCSI, while Cella is a fan of the Lightning and prefers the Castle TV series.

Together, the two officers patrol SoHo on Trek bicycles on weekend nights.

The Tampa Police District 1’s Community Oriented Policing program, which started in July 2010, puts officers along South Howard Avenue and the surrounding area to serve as liaisons with the businesses, residents, and folks who come to have a good time in one of the many bars.

"We want to see this place succeed," said Cella. "I don't want to see it becoming a second Ybor."

But drugs and fights are not what plague the area.

Cella said that he has yet to make a drug related arrest since he started patrolling the neighborhood last year.

Instead, the spread of sophisticated and almost flawless fake IDs is the biggest concern.

The two officers arrested University of Tampa student Shane Cowee just half an hour into their patrolling shift Thursday night, Nov. 17.

The twenty-year-old student had shown a fake ID in order to set foot at the popular pub located on South Howard Avenue.

The possession and use of a counterfeit ID is a felony in the state of Florida and records show that Cowee was released on a $500 bail Friday, Nov. 18.

“Ninety-nine percent of fake IDs comes from UT,” said Cella.

Morales explained that UT students order fraudulent IDs through ID Chief, a Web site that originates in China.

According to Morales, a counterfeit ID costs from $200 to $300. Once passport pictures and payments are sent in, the fake IDs are shipped from overseas.

“This is quality stuff,” Cella said showing the hologram on the confiscated ID.

When scanned in a card reader, fake IDs produce name, birth date and address exactly as printed on them. But license numbers fail to come back.

“The driver license does not come back in the system, or comes back as belonging to someone else,” Cella said. “Once I had an ID that came back as a 60-year-old lady from Pennsylvania while I was looking at a 20-year-old guy.”

An untrained eye would find it almost impossible to differentiate a real ID from the bogus one ordered through the Web site.

Yet, some veteran bouncers working at the bars in SoHo have developed an expert eye and are able to alert police.

“Sometimes they even educate me,” Cella said.

The previous weekend, the two officers said that they had confiscated about 15 fraudulent IDs.

Recently, a UT student who was in possession of a counterfeit ID tried to bribe Cella in order to avoid arrest.

“I’ll give you $100 if you just walk away,” she said.

Later, she admitted that she ordered the ID through the popular Web site.

“These kids are just trying to have fun, without knowing the repercussions,” Cella said.

The two patrolling officers say their intention is not to bust people, but to protect folks and ensure their safety while they are out having fun.

“We want to have a pro-active and educational approach,” Morales said. “Our role is to establish a relationship with the people and businesses in the area.”

When bars close at 3 a.m., the two officers patrol the streets to ensure everyone gets home safe.

Sometimes, they see folks passed out on benches or relieving themselves behind bushes. Cars may be parked in alleyways, the people inside too impatient to wait to be home.

Once, Cella and Morales found a couple having intercourse in a back alley.

“I dropped my license and he is helping me find it,” the girl, still bent over and with her underwear around her feet, had said.