Ex-SMU student sentenced for passport fraud

DALLAS, TX Douglas Havard was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty March 29 to passport fraud under a plea deal. The Dallas Morning News reports the 28-year-old former Southern Methodist University student faced up to 10 years in prison when British officials extradited him in March.

Investigators say he spent the past seven years in an English jail after his 2004 arrest for involvement with a global identity theft ring linked to Russian organized crime. When he fled Texas, Havard had pending state charges that included drug dealing, engaging in organized crime, counterfeiting of IDs and aggravated robbery. He still faces those charges.