Mark Clayton Mahovlich needed some ID because his driver's licence had been cancelled. He applied for a BCID using his brother's Care Card and birth certificate, neither of which carries a photo. Mark has a history of impersonating his brother and has caused significant problems for him by doing this.
ICBC Facial Recognition
What Mark wasn't aware of is that ICBC uses facial recognition for driver's licence and BCID purposes. That system determined that he was impersonating his brother and the BCID was not issued.
Motor Vehicle Act and Identity Fraud
He pled guilty to the offence under section 69 (2) of the Motor Vehicle Act:
69 (2) A person commits an offence if the person, in
(a) applying for a driver's licence or an identification card,
does any of the following:
(e) makes a false or misleading statement;
(4) A person who contravenes subsection (2) or (3) is liable to a fine of not less than $400 and not more than $20 000 or to imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or to both.
The Accused's Background
A pre-sentence report outlining Mr. Mahovlich's background was referred to by the judge:
Mark states that he committed the offence because he was in fear for his life and was going to rent an apartment in his brother's name. He states he was under the mistaken impression that someone was trying to kill him by running him over with a truck and that he needed a place to hide out where no one would find him. He relates that he felt like the police were working against him and took a year to help. He reports that he has pissed off a lot of people in the past four years including WCB, City of Coquitlam and Port Moody Police Department. He states that he has never used his brother's ID before and that drugs were not a factor in the offence. He felt he had no one to turn to and did not want to stress out his father who is currently in remission from prostate cancer. Mark admits he did do something wrong but feels justified in his actions. He believes he is a victim and should not be punished. He states that he did what he had to do and has no regrets.
Penalty
Judge Dyer fined Mr. Mahovlich $1,750.00 and gave him one year to pay.
Impersonating Applies to B.C. Driver's Licences Too
The same circumstances would apply had Mahovlich tried to obtain a BC driver's licence instead of BCID.
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