State College False Identification to Law Enforcement, 18 Pa.C.S. 4914

False Identification to Law Enforcement

When a person does something wrong and are confronted by the police, they occasionally get scared and provide false identifying information.  A Penn State student may have had a bit too much to drink, the student is under 21, and, while walking home, they are stopped by a police officer.  When asked for a name and date of birth, the student gives the officer a fake ID or gives a incorrect date of birth with the hope of avoiding an Underage Drinking charge under 18 Pa.C.S. 6308.  Regrettably, by providing the fake ID or false information to the officer, the student may have made things worse.

The charge of False Identification to Law Enforcement under 18 Pa.C.S. 4914 prohibits a person from providing “law enforcement authorities with false information about his identity after being informed by a law enforcement officer who is in uniform or who has identified himself as a law enforcement officer that the person is the subject of an official investigation of a violation of law.”  The charge is graded as a misdemeanor of the third degree, which carries a maximum sentence of 1 year in jail and a $2,500.00 fine.

Criminal Record for Fake ID

Because the False Identification to Law Enforcement charge is a misdemeanor, Pennsylvania law requires that person to be fingerprinted and photographed.  When a person is printed, the Pennsylvania State Police and FBI created a record of the case, and that record can be found by background search companies, so the record could be provided to employers and landlords.

The Fake ID charge is also a little worse than other non-violent misdemeanor charges because it is considered a crimen falsi offense. Crimen falsi means a crime involving dishonesty, so this charge is grouped with forgery and theft.  Employers and landlords are more concerned with this type of conviction because they don’t trust someone that is dishonest.

In some False Identification to Law Enforcement cases, the person may be able to obtain a dismissal and expungement of the charge by participating in the ARD program.  Participation in ARD would require the person to pay ARD costs and fees, be subject to a period of supervision by the probation department, and probably complete some community service.  By doing those things, the person is permitted to file paperwork to have the charge dismissed and then go through the Pennsylvania expungement process to have the records of the incident destroyed.

If you have been charged with False Identification to Law Enforcement or other criminal offenses in the State College or surroundings areas, contact JD Law for a free consultation. Email or call at (814) 689-9139.