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Young Men Arrested
Three local college students charged
with unlawful possession of fake IDs.
Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Senior Writer
BRIBING WAGEWHER
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SUPERVISED BY THE COUNCIL OF ORTHODOX RABBIS OF GREATER DETROIT
16 March 18 • 2010
!IN
W
ith the arrest of three local
Jewish college students
charged with possessing
false identification documents with the
intent of illegal use or transfer, comes
a stern warning from one defendant's
attorney.
"Our kids need to be reminded that
even something as seemingly innocu-
ous as buying IDs to get into bars can
lead to huge trouble said James W.
Burdick, a Bloomfield Hills attorney.
Burdick represents University
of Michigan sophomore Samuel
Hamburger, 19, of Royal Oak, who
appeared in federal court on Feb. 25,
along with U-M sophomore Barak
Leibovitz, 20, and Michigan State
University freshman Zachary Firestone,
18, both of West Bloomfield.
Attorney Adam Kutinsky of Detroit rep-
resents Leibovitz and declined comment.
According to Gina Balaya of the U.S.
Attorney's office in Detroit, all three
defendants were released on unsecured
bonds. They are at the complaint stage
and have not had to enter pleas. Their
preliminary examinations, to determine
if there is enough evidence to be bound
over for trial, are set for April 12 in
federal district court before Magistrate
Judge Mark Randon.
The students were arrested Feb. 24
after Hamburger allegedly signed for a
FedEx package containing 48 fraudulent
identification cards at the Ann Arbor
apartment he shares with Leibovitz.
According to the criminal complaint,
the three were charged in violation of
Title 18 of the U.S. Code, in that "all
defendants did knowingly possess with
the intent to use unlawfully or transfer
unlawfully identification documents,
authentication features, or false identifi-
cation documents."
An affidavit attached to the criminal
complaint describes the Feb. 20 intercep-
tion of the FedEx parcel while en route
from Toronto to Ann Arbor. The pack-
age was seized by Customs and Border
Protection officers in Memphis and sent
to Detroit's Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) office. On Feb. 24, the
package was delivered to the Ann Arbor
apartment by special agents and signed
for by Hamburger, the only one home.
In the affidavit, ICE special agent
Michael Williams said, "Hamburger stat-
ed that Leibovitz informed (him) that he
was expecting a package (and) he knew
the package he'd signed for contained (at
least one) fake identification card."
Leibovitz was arrested when he
returned to the apartment later that day.
In a written statement to the ICE, he
said 27 of the ID cards were his and the
rest belonged to a friend, later identi-
fied as Firestone, a graduate of Hillel
Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in
Farmington Hills and Frankel Jewish
Academy in West Bloomfield.
In the affidavit, Williams said,
"Firestone gave a written statement as
to his involvement with the sale of the
fake identification cards as well as to
how he initially got involved, and intro-
duced to doing so, by Leibovitz."
According to ICE spokesman Khaalid
Walls, punishment for an individual
convicted of dealing in fraudulent iden-
tification documents could include a
fine of up to $10,000 and/or imprison-
ment for up to 15 years, with further
repercussions for offenses, including
those in connection with a crime of
violence or to facilitate a drug traf-
ficking crime or an act of domestic or
international terrorism. ICE officials
say the U.S. Attorney's office is working
to determine the specific penalty that
could be incurred in the case, depen-
dent on the type of documents involved.
Burdick says he strongly stands by
"the need for the government and ICE to
be very vigilant about false IDs, particu-
larly with respect to the nefarious uses to
which it is all too often put and the ter-
rible violence from potential users:"
But he maintains that his client,
Hamburger, "was not at all involved:'
only having signed for his roommates'
package at his roommate's request.
Hamburger graduated from Detroit
Country Day School, Beverly Hills.
Leibovitz's high school was not available.
Although Burdick is adamant the
other two defendants should not "have
made a business of selling fake IDs and
crossing the international border to do
it, to boot',' he says they do not warrant a
federal criminal conviction. "The intend-
ed use by the kids at U-M and MSU who
were going to buy these IDs — underage
drinking — is hardly what one would
think of as a federal crime.
"The biggest issue is that we don't
seem to be able to convince some of
our kids they are not, in fact, immortal,"
Burdick said.