Five Southern California men were arrested late yesterday for allegedly engaging in the manufacture, sale and distribution of counterfeit driver license and identification cards, the Department of Motor Vehicles announced today.

Taken into custody were Alfredo Roldan, 45, Javier Mores Rojas, 27, Hugo Leon Diaz, 36, and Reinaldo Merida, 21, all of Los Angeles. A fifth as yet unidentified suspect was also arrested.

Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking news alerts delivered right to your inbox

The five men were booked into the Los Angeles County Sheriff Central Jail on $75,000 bail and charged with at least one count of manufacturing, sale or distribution of false citizenship documents (California Penal Code Section 113); forgery (CPC 470); reproduction or falsification of driver license or identification cards (CPC 470a); and, forgery of public or corporate seals (CPC 472).

“I commend the great work of DMV investigators as well as participating agencies that together stopped a major manufacturing operation of fraudulent driver licenses and other government documents,” said DMV Director George Valverde.

The arrests were made at an apartment complex on S. Bonnie Brae Street in MacArthur Park by investigators from the California DMV’s Los Angeles Metro Office, with assistance from the Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol.

With a search warrant, DMV investigators seized California driver licenses and identification cards, Social Security cards, computer equipment, printers, lamination materials and machinery and other miscellaneous items utilized in the counterfeit production of government documents. DMV officials noted that additional charges may also be filed through the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. If convicted, the suspects face up to three years in state prison.