A Penn State student accused of forgery for allegedly manufacturing and selling false driver's licenses will have his pre-trial conference May 19.

According to court documents, Joseph Mellet, 19, of Merion Station, is charged with 15 felony counts of forgery and 15 misdemeanor counts of manufacture or sale of false identification cards.

Mellet is accused of manufacturing Connecticut driver's licenses for 14 students, all of whom were under 21 at the time of incident, according to court documents.

The fifteenth charge resulted from Mellet manufacturing and arranging the sale of a false ID to an undercover police officer.

Penn State University Police Supervisor Bill Moerschbacher said the degrees for a forgery offense vary on what has been forged, whether it is money or identification.

"It is serious. It can carry jail time," he said. "There is a lot that goes into sentencing. ... You look at the severity of the crime and previous offenses."

University Police caught Mellet after he agreed to make an ID, for a person he was talking to on a cell phone, for $80, and another student overheard Mellet's conversation on March 2, 2004, according to court documents. The student also saw Mellet making Connecticut driver's licenses and contacted the University Police.

The next day, two officers came with a student who was going to Mellet's dorm room to get a license made by Mellet, according to court documents.

After the student went inside his room, and later came out, the police officers identified themselves and asked if they could come enter and speak with Mellet.

When the officers walked into the room they observed photo paper along with Connecticut driver's license information hanging above a desk, as well as a blue poster board and a laptop computer.

According to court documents, police then searched the room and asked for all the items Mellet used to manufacture the identification cards.

Moerschbacher said increases in technology have enabled the forging of documents by using computers and digital cameras.

"We know this goes on fairly regularly," Moerschbacher said.

"Most of the time we come across [the fake IDs] it's for alcohol," he added.

Andrea Festa, manager of Café 210 West, 210 W. College Ave., said many bars have a guide of state identification cards to help identify false identification material.

"We have our bouncer trained to detect such things," she said. "[The guide] has every state identification issued [each year]."

Mellet's attorney, Joseph Amendola, said that so far the court proceedings have been routine because it is common for defendants to waive the hearing. Amendola said Mellet waived his hearing last Wednesday.

"This is the first time where anything official can happen," he said. "So basically there's going to be a two-and-a-half month hiatus."

If the case goes to trial, jury selection will be on June 6, Amendola said.