Calgary police have charged a man after a lengthy investigation led to the discovery of more than $1 million in fake transit passes.
The year-long investigation involved nine search warrants and eventually led to arrest of a 31-year-old Calgary man.
The police investigation started on June 28, 2017, when Calgary Transit’s peace officers noticed an increasing number of high-quality, forged UPASS stickers.
UPASS stickers are transit passes available only to post-secondary students.
Officers located the stickers online and identified a suspect, who used fake names, different phone numbers and multiple ads to conceal who he was.
A package of 3,300 fake stickers — worth $1.3 million to Calgary Transit — was then intercepted by Canadian Border Services Agency in January 2018.
David Philip Smerd, 31, of Calgary, is charged with one count each of making forged documents, fraud over $5,000 and uttering forged documents.
He is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 10.
— With files from Global News’ Spencer Gallichan-Lowe