Suburban man had stash of fake IDs: police
December 5, 2007
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter/fmain@suntimes.com
Federal authorities have joined an investigation of a Morton Grove man caught with a cache of passports, credit cards and Illinois identification cards in his home, police said Tuesday.
Mohammed Afzal Sodagar, 51, is being held in lieu of $3 million bail on domestic battery, fraud and theft charges brought in Cook County Criminal Court.
Police seized the documents — and more than $60,000 cash and 80 ounces of gold — after responding to a report of domestic violence at his home Thursday.
His 22-year-old son told police his father struck him in the arm and threatened him with a gun, prosecutors said. The son also allegedly told police Sodagar’s only income was from credit card fraud.
Police said they did not find a gun in the home Thursday, but in a bedroom they saw envelopes stuffed with $100 bills and an open briefcase containing credit cards with other people’s names on them.
They executed a search warrant Friday and seized 11 state ID cards, 32 credit cards, 36 Social Security cards, a visa entry stamp and 12 passports for the United States, Jamaica and Pakistan, all in other names, prosecutors said.
One passport was dated 1976, said Morton Grove Police Cmdr. Brian Bolger.
Sodagar was a spokesman for the Muslim Community Center and Muslim Education Center, whose facilities are in Chicago and Morton Grove.
“We are alarmed over the alleged reports of the findings at Afzal Sodagar’s home,” the mosque said in a statement. “We urge the media to not irresponsibly associate local mosques with Mr. Sodagar’s personal situation.”
Sodagar has been removed from his positions in the mosque, the statement said.
He could not be reached for comment.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/681236,CST-NWS-passport05.article
Thanks for posting the follow-up with more info. I was surprised I hadn’t seen more about this story.
You muslim idiot! What self-serving senseless drivel!
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