Calgary police have charged a man after a lengthy investigation led to the discovery of more than $1 million in fake transit passes.
The year-long investigation involved nine search warrants and eventually led to arrest of a 31-year-old Calgary man.
The police investigation started on June 28, 2017, when Calgary Transit’s peace officers noticed an increasing number of high-quality, forged UPASS stickers.
UPASS stickers are transit passes available only to post-secondary students.
Officers located the stickers online and identified a suspect, who used fake names, different phone numbers and multiple ads to conceal who he was.
A package of 3,300 fake stickers — worth $1.3 million to Calgary Transit — was then intercepted by Canadian Border Services Agency in January 2018.
Police say the stickers were professionally printed in China and addressed to the suspect.
Authorities say the suspect sold about $34,000 worth of fraudulent stickers between May 2015 and January 2018.
David Philip Smerd, 31, has been charged with making forged documents, fraud over $5,000 and uttering forged documents.
He is to appear in court on Sept. 10.
The Canadian Press
