Ohio State Highway Patrol: Columbus area leads in ID crime arrests

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio State Highway Patrol says the county that includes Columbus is the capital for identity crime arrests in Ohio.

Troopers said today that Franklin County was where about 21 percent of those arrests were made by the patrol during a recent 21-month period.

For the highway patrol, identity crimes often involve people using a phony driver’s license or ID card, giving a false name to an officer or signing a false name to a ticket or statement.

Troopers made 572 identity crime arrests from January 2010 through September 2011. Franklin County had the most: 118. In second place was Butler County outside Cincinnati, with 41 arrests.

In a statement, patrol superintendent Col. John Born says officers are helping to stop criminals from posing as law-abiding citizens.