Man Accused of Selling Bogus License Plates

A criminal complaint was filed against a Thousand Oaks engraver after he sold a state Department of Motor Vehicles investigator a phony license plate at a swap meet, authorities said Friday.

Max Herstein, 61, was charged Thursday with selling an imitation license plate, a misdemeanor, said Phil (Lucky) Chlopek, a DMV investigator. The plate was embossed with Chlopek’s nickname, Lucky.

Several bogus California and Tennessee plates, including about 30 embossed 1-ELVIS, also were seized from Herstein’s home and engraving shop during the three-week investigation, Chlopek said.

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“I saw him selling blank plates at the swap meet and told him I’d like him to make me one,” Chlopek said. “And he says, ‘I have to tell you folks these are illegal, and I have to be real careful who I sell them to.’ I filled out an order form, and he sent it to me at the DMV office four days later.”

Chlopek said he and investigator Charlene Arp had gone to the swap meet in Saugus July 10 after the DMV received an anonymous letter saying bogus plates were being sold at an engraving concession there. Chlopek said the majority of Herstein’s business was selling miniature license plates that are legal.

But plates that are near-facsimiles in size and design of the state’s own are illegal to sell, and Chlopek said he and Arp were easily able to order a plate stamped Lucky 2 from Herstein at the swap meet. He said

Herstein later stamped the plate with a machine at his shop and sent it to Chlopek at the DMV office in Saugus.

Chlopek said the cost was $18. The bogus plate was plastic and said So. California along the top where actual plates say only California. There were no registration stickers on it.

“Somebody would have to really be paying attention to notice it wasn’t the real thing,” Chlopek said. “If you took registration stickers off another car, put them on this and put a license plate frame around it, it would go unnoticed in most cases.

“This might seem like a minor thing but it is a major thing because of the real possibility of a criminal putting them on a stolen car or using them after being involved in any kind of crime.”

Chlopek said it was unknown how many phony plates Herstein sold but an investigation is continuing, in part with information Herstein gave investigators about distributors of the blank plates.

Investigators also are attempting to learn whether the aluminum 1-ELVIS plates from Tennessee, which have look-alike registration stickers painted on them, are legitimately sold in that state, Chlopek said.

“As far as Tennessee goes, these may be legitimate there as a novelty item, but they aren’t here,” he said.

If convicted, Herstein could face a maximum sentence of a $1,000 fine or six months in jail or both.