A former Syracuse University student has been charged with four criminal offenses which could land him in jail for as long as 20 years and cost him fines up to $500,000.

Nick Griffin, a Jamesville native who attended SU in the fall as a sophomore political science major and whose father also works as a professor at the university, has been indicted on three counts of reproducing military identification cards and one count of making a false statement while under investigation. He was also charged with stealing the card stock the military uses to make ID cards, as well as the materials necessary to laminate them.

‘He had shown me the IDs before,’ said Chris Bossert, a sophomore entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major who knew Griffin while he was at SU. ‘He said, ‘Yeah, I’m in the Coast Guard now, look at my ID.’ I wondered what he was doing in the Coast Guard if he went (to SU).’

Griffin, at the advice of his attorney, Emil Rossi, denied comment. Rossi also denied comment, due to the fact that Griffin’s case is currently pending in federal court.

Because Griffin was interested in going into politics, he acquired an internship working for Senator Chuck Schumer in his Syracuse office while attending SU. Eric Schultz, who knew Griffin as an intern, was unavailable for comment.

Bossert said this is not the only incident where Griffin had allegedly reproduced false identification.

‘(Griffin said) he did kinds of stuff like that in high school with parking passes,’ Bossert said.

Steve DeFino, a freshman fine arts major who lived two doors down from Griffin in Lawrinson Hall this fall, said Griffin did not normally spend much time on the floor. He did, however, become aware of what had happened after Griffin did not return to the floor at all for the second semester.

‘It was kind of under wraps until he was kicked out of school,’ DeFino said.

Bossert described Griffin as an outgoing, funny person who didn’t appear very suspicious.

‘He was pretty funny,’ he said. ‘He’s really sarcastic and seemed really into himself.’

Though associated with Griffin as one of his former floor mates, DeFino believes the action taken against him was just.

‘One side of me says it’s good that the government followed up on what happened,’ he said. ‘(I think) what he did wasn’t intended. Even if they were military IDs, I’m sure he was doing it so he could get into a bar or something, not into government territory.’

DeFino did, however, sympathize with Griffin’s current situation.

‘I don’t think he should face as much jail time as he could possibly get,’ he said.

As Griffin’s case unfolds and authorities debate whether the matter should be taken to federal court, Bossert remains objective in his opinion of his friend.

‘I didn’t know he was doing any of that,’ he said. ‘It was pretty crazy.’

Published on February 2, 2005 at 12:00 pm