A Kansas University student was sentenced to six months probation on Thursday for using false identification cards seized two years ago at Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house.
John Jay Pickard, now 22, was sentenced on five misdemeanor counts of unlawful use of a driver's license, charges to which he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing. He was put on probation for six months and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.
"I'd just like to apologize for all the time and grief I put the court through," Pickard said before Douglas County District Judge Michael Malone issued the sentence. "The things I've done, I've learned from. I've learned there are harsh consequences."
Pickard was charged in what authorities initially characterized as a scheme to produce and distribute false identification cards. Police executed a search warrant in April 1999 at Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, 1100 Ind., where they hauled away identification manufacturing equipment and at least a dozen fake driver's licenses.
Another KU student, Daniel Sailler, 20, was given a year probation and ordered to pay $400 in fines after pleading guilty to four misdemeanor counts of unlawful use of a driver's license. Sailler also was a member of Phi Kappa Tau.
Pickard could have been ordered to spend six months in jail, but Malone, who said that Pickard had no criminal history, suspended the jail time in favor of probation and community service.
"You've conducted yourself in a law-abiding manner since then," Malone said.
-- Staff writer Kevin Bates can be reached at 832-7187.
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