Forgery Laws in California - Penal Code 470 PC
Penal Code 470 PC defines the California crime of forgery, a serious offense that involves falsifying a signature or seal or counterfeiting documents with fraudulent intent.
Specifically, PC 470 makes it a crime to sign the name of another person or a fictitious person, counterfeit or forge the seal or handwriting of another, alter, corrupt, or falsify any record of any legal will, codicil, or judgment, or falsely make, alter, forge, or counterfeit certain documents like checks, bonds, and money orders.
The federal government takes the crime of forgery very seriously. Our Los Angeles criminal attorneys are here to help you and fight on your behalf. Forgery is a grave offense where a defendant knowingly alters, creates, or uses a written document, intending to commit fraud. If there is no intent to defraud, then there is no crime of forgery.
PC 470 defines forgery as a “wobbler,” which means that it may be charged with either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the circumstances of the case and the defendant's criminal history. This flexibility in charging allows the prosecution to tailor the charges to the specific details of the case, potentially leading to more severe penalties.
Forgery can take many forms in criminal cases in Los Angeles. In one case I recently handled, someone stole a check from a lawyer's office and went to the bank where it was drawn. The person pretended to be the attorney, forged the attorney's signature, and cashed the check multiple times.
Federal Forgery Cases
This case ended up in federal court. Usually, when a forgery case occurs, law enforcement prosecutes it. You don't work out some resolution by way of a plea bargain.
What ends up happening is that to prove the forgery and convict a person of a crime, typically, the prosecutors are going to need an expert to come in to provide evidence that the signature they're claiming is a forgery actually is a forgery. It's not the defendant's check or the person's signature who it's supposed to be.
Then, they'll need an exemplar from the defendants. They must try to get their hands on something the defendant has written or signed.
A lot of times, they'll execute search warrants of that person's house to be able to do that because they're not just going to say, "Write something down here." The person can try to disguise their handwriting and make it much more difficult for the expert to confirm whether or not it's a forgery.
Then, they will need an exemplar of the person's signature who is in charge of that particular check. There's a lot of different ways that this can come up. It depends on precisely what is being alleged about the forgery.
Various Types of Forgery Cases
Other documents can be forged—whether at the Department of Motor Vehicles or real estate documents—and there are different cases where forgery can occur.
It involves signing somebody's name when you're not authorized. It's usually in an official setting where somebody gains goods or services or something they usually couldn't achieve without doing the forgery.
For instance, forging a signature on a real estate document could lead to the illegal transfer of property ownership, while forging a signature at the DMV could result in the unauthorized issuance of a driver's license.
If it's a forgery with a loss of money attached to it—for example, somebody forges something and then gets a bunch of money—that will also be an issue.
Reviewing Best Defense Strategy
So, what I like to have you do if you have a forgery case is have you come in. We sit down and go over everything related to the case. We first decide whether there's a defense to the forgery allegations or whether the prosecutor can prove the case.
Sometimes, there is a defense that is important enough to you. In that case, we will get our expert, a handwriting analysis specialist, to testify about mitigating and helpful things related to the alleged forgery in Los Angeles County.
That expert can provide a report that we can show to the prosecutors to get them to either dismiss the case or reduce it to a lesser charge.
If that's not possible, we can use that expert to testify at a trial to prove you are not guilty of this alleged forgery. So, the first thing is to get you to sit down, talk about it, and decide on a strategy.
Once we decide on a plan in a forgery case, that will dictate what happens next. If our defense strategy is successful, the charges could be dismissed, or the case could be reduced to a lesser charge, potentially leading to a more favorable outcome for you.
If convicted of forgery, the consequences can be severe. A misdemeanor conviction could lead to a maximum county jail sentence of one year, while a felony conviction could result in a potential California State Prison sentence of 16 months, two years, or three years.
Suppose you are convicted of felony forgery and have at least one or two prior “strikes” on your record. In that case, you will be subject to a significantly greater prison sentence under the California Three Strikes Law, which mandates a life sentence for a third felony conviction.
Our Los Angeles federal criminal defense lawyers are here to help you if you've been charged with forgery. We have a range of defenses we can use to fight on your behalf. Please get in touch with our law firm anytime, 24/7, so we can answer all your legal questions and provide the support you need during this challenging time.
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