united-states criminal-law police washington identity-theft
Is it illegal to carry someone else&#39;s ID or credit card?
<p>I was watching a video by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChaEeYV0iibwFqrmFYTweVA" rel="noreferrer">RealWorldPolice</a> about a high school student who was arrested for carrying a loaded gun into his school in Seattle, WA. Footage of the entire search, detainment, and arrest of the student can be found <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq9fqUham14&amp;t=591s" rel="noreferrer">here</a>.</p>
<p>At one point in the video, a police officer is interrogating the student about the contents of his wallet, which apparently contained somebody else's ID and credit card; the officer claimed that this was illegal (<a href="https://youtu.be/Iq9fqUham14?t=828" rel="noreferrer">starts at 13:48</a>):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Cop: ... And who is &quot;Caleb Wartz?&quot;</p>
<p>Student: [Indicating to an ID the officer is holding] ... That's Caleb's ID ... he goes here.</p>
<p>C: I got that. Why is it in your wallet?</p>
<p>S: Because that's my friend Caleb?</p>
<p>C: Why do you have his ID?</p>
<p>S: Because he left it at the gym, and I picked it up, and I was supposed to give it to him...</p>
<p>C: OK, why do you have someone else's credit card?</p>
<p>S: That, I don't know... That... I had a new wallet, picked it up from my house, it's always been in there, never used it...</p>
<p>C: <strong>You realize it's a crime just to possess someone else's credit card?</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is there any validity to the officer's claim that merely possessing someone else's credit card is illegal in and of itself, federal or state?</p>

<p>I think the officer is probably lying, not just mistaken, but they are not required to always be truthful. In addition to the <a href="https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.35.020" rel="nofollow noreferrer">law against possessing ID</a> with intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any crime, it is also against the law to be knowingly in possession of a stolen credit card, or <a href="https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9A.56.140" rel="nofollow noreferrer">any other property</a>. An example of a strict-liability possession crime, which the officer knows of, is that it <em>is</em> a crime to possess heroin, period. I am skeptical that the officer actually believes that there is a law making it a crime to be in possession of a credit card with permission, and suspect that he thinks it is stolen.</p>

<p>Looking at <a href="https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.35.020" rel="noreferrer">Washington's Identity Theft statute RCW 9.35.020</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>No person may knowingly obtain, possess, use, or transfer a means of identification or financial information of another person, living or dead, with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any crime.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, just possessing someone else's credit card is not a crime as long as one does not have the intent to use it for a crime.  The officer may not exactly be lying, however - it's entirely possible that given all of the evidence, a prosecutor could prove that someone who possessed another person's credit card without attempting to use it to commit a crime did in fact intend to use it to commit a crime.  It's unlikely to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt with only the teenager's evasive answer, but further investigation could lead to more evidence suggesting he intended to commit a crime with it.</p>

<p>Note that it's pretty obviously not illegal to simply possess another person's ID--it's not exactly an unusual situation with couples.  I have handed plenty (probably upwards of 100) of government officials my wife's passport, nobody has ever had a problem with that.</p>
