Four ISU students were arrested March 8 for making and selling fake CyRide bus passes.

After a Department of Public Safety investigation, Jaydn Bonifas, 3365 Larch Hall, and George Barnes IV, 3357 Larch Hall, were each charged with tampering with records. DPS officials said the two students were released, and the charge is considered an aggravated misdemeanor, one step down from a felony conviction.

Mason Hoyer, 3349 Larch Hall, and Kyan Heck, 3362 Larch Hall, were each charged with fifth degree theft. Officials said the two students were cited and released, and the charge is a simple misdemeanor.

Bonifas, freshman in chemical engineering, Barnes, freshman in mechanical engineering, and Heck, freshman in engineering, were not available for comment. Hoyer, freshman in computer engineering, declined to comment.

Barb Neal, assistant operations supervisor, said CyRide officials received a tip about the passes from a couple of people.

“Someone had called in saying they knew of some counterfeit passes,” Neal said, “and then we gave that information to the DPS. They reacted quickly and promptly.”

Aaron DeLashmutt, investigative officer with DPS, said the department received a complaint March 5 about the production of false CyRide bus passes. He said the students arrested were known to be involved.

DPS used two female adults to attempt to purchase false tickets for $10 each in order to make the arrests, DeLashmutt said.

“Apparently, the way the passes were made was to take the bus passes and color copy them, and then they were laminated,” he said.

DeLashmutt said about 20 passes were made.

Neal said CyRide hasn’t had problems with fake passes in the past because the passes had holograms added to them during the early 1990s.

DeLashmutt said this type of incident is not commonly reported.

“I guess it’s like false IDs. People attempt to make them all the time,” he said.