Press Release - 06-24-2015

NYS DMV Press Release

 

 

Contact:
Joe Morrissey
[email protected]
Chet Lasell
[email protected]


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Office of Communications
6 Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY  12228

June 24, 2015  

 

DMV Underage Drinking and Fake ID Enforcement Leads to 113 Arrests at Concerts at Darien Lake and Saratoga Performing Arts Center

 

New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Deputy Commissioner Thomas Higgins today announced that DMV underage drinking enforcement actions at two recent Fall Out Boy concerts resulted in the arrest of 113 concertgoers and the seizure of 88 counterfeit licenses. The arrests occurred at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Genesee County on Thursday, June 18, and at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in Saratoga County on Tuesday, June 23.

“SPAC and Darien Lake are summertime destinations for thousands of young music fans, which is why DMV and its law enforcement partners established ID checkpoints at these two events,” said Deputy Commissioner Higgins.  “Our ID checkpoints prevent underage concertgoers from obtaining alcohol and possibly becoming a danger to themselves and others.  Our efforts are particularly important during graduation season and the summer months when underage drinking tends to spike.  We will continue to deploy our investigators at summer hot spots that draw large numbers of young people so that we can reduce underage drinking and impaired driving and, in turn, save lives.”

On Thursday, June 18, DMV’s Division of Field Investigations (DFI), in conjunction with the Genesee County Sheriff Department, checked concertgoers entering the Darien Lake grounds for possession of alcohol, as well as individuals who attempted to purchase alcohol on the premises with the use of fraudulent identification.

At Darien Lake, DFI criminally charged 48 individuals with a violation of New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law 509 and 14 individuals for violations of section 65(c) of Alcoholic Beverage Law.  DFI recovered 48 fraudulent driver licenses or identification cards supposedly issued from 12 different states including 10 from Ohio, nine from Connecticut and Pennsylvania, eight from New York, three from Michigan, two from New Jersey and Rhode Island, and one from Arizona, Maine, Minnesota, Maryland and Delaware.  The Genesee County Sheriff Department also arrested 18 individuals for the possession of marijuana.

At SPAC, DFI investigators made 33 arrests for violations of Vehicle and Traffic Law 509 and recovered 40 fraudulent driver licenses or identification cards from 13 different states, including 15 from Connecticut, five from Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, three from Maine, two from South Carolina, New Jersey and Ohio, and one from Maryland, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, California and Delaware.  Three were also arrested for attempting to use someone else’s driver license.  Some individuals possessed more than one counterfeit document but were only charged with one offense. 

All of the individuals arrested face administrative action that normally results in a revocation of their license for a minimum of 90 days.

Also at SPAC, uniformed and plainclothes State Park Police officers patrolled parking lots, picnic areas and other park grounds outside of SPAC to thwart the use of alcohol in the park in violation of park regulations.

“The latest law enforcement action again highlights our zero tolerance policy for underage drinking in our State Parks,” State Parks Police Chief David Herrick said. “Law enforcement agencies across the state are united in their efforts to keep park visitors and concert-goers safe, and to reduce the number of intoxicated drivers on the roadways.”

These enforcement actions were supported by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee to deter minors from abusing alcohol and driving while impaired. The legal drinking age in New York State is 21.

Most of the individuals arrested for fraudulent driver licenses or identification cards purchased these documents over the internet from foreign companies. For more than a decade, DMV and its partners in federal and state law enforcement agencies have worked to crack down on counterfeiters by identifying the source and working to shut down their operations.

For more information about the Department of Motor Vehicles, please visit: www.dmv.ny.gov.

 

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