Colorado company banned from producing fake documents
A Colorado business that was temporarily shut down by court order has been allowed to resume operations but without the ability to sell a multitude of fake documents it previously offered.
Propdoks created and printed bank statements, medical marijuana cards, college degrees, eviction notices, police reports, high school diplomas, temporary protection orders or child custody paperwork (complete with a judge's signature), titles, out-of-state temp tags and proof of insurance for vehicles, resumés with letters of certification to operate heavy machinery or work as a nurse, regardless of your actual training.
All of it, according to state investigators, is fraudulent.
RELATED: Colorado halts operations, freezes assets of company allegedly creating fake documents
Prosecutors claimed the business filled tens of thousands of orders over the past two years and expanded its offerings to more than 70 types of false documents.
A judge in August ordered the business's doors shut and its assets to be frozen following a months-long investigation.
"Defendants know that their documents will be used to commit fraud; they do not care," prosecutors wrote in the state's complaint against Visual Prop Studios LLC.
Visual Prop Studios is the entity that was doing business as PropDoks. It is registered with the state by its owner, Erdis Moore III, a 49-year-old Aurora resident. The three-year-old business is registered to Moore's home address near Utah Park. However, customers were directed to a storefront once they made a purchase on the company's website. Since the company refused to mail or deliver documents, customers were directed to this storefront to pick up their purchases directly.
In March, an undercover investigator purchased a false tax return, a temporary license plate and an insurance card, then a false protection order and child custody order from Propdoks. Inside the Propdoks store, that investigator reported seeing signs which stated, "We Make Proof of ANYTHING," and ""Your Imagination Is Our Limitation." Another sign instructed customers to not tell the business how the fake documents were going to be used.
The business advertised its products as theatrical props, educational tools and material for playing jokes.
Investigators uncovered further deceptive practices after Propdoks was initially ordered to cease operations. These include methods of "resetting" consumer credit using credit privacy numbers, which the Colorado Attorney General's Office deemed "essentially fraudulent Social Security numbers." The victims of the scheme were often children, older adults and inmates, according to the office's research.
The company agreed to end its sale of fake documents and credit "reset" services, the state AG's office announced Wednesday. Propdoks will also pay $20,000 to the state. That money will be held for any victims of the business's practices, the AG's office stated in a press release. It will also go toward consumer protection education and enforcement.
