Penal Code § 470 PC defines the California crime of forgery, which is falsifying a signature or seal or counterfeiting documents when doing so with fraudulent intent.
Specifically, PC 470 makes it a crime to do any of the following:
Examples
Defenses
You can beat a forgery charge with a good legal defense. Common defenses include:
Penalties
Most violations of this code section are wobbler offenses. A wobbler is a crime that a prosecutor can charge as either:
A misdemeanor conviction is punishable by imprisonment in county jail for up to one year.
A felony conviction is punishable by custody in jail for up to three years.
In place of jail time, a judge can award either:
Our California criminal defense attorneys will discuss the following in this article:
Penal Code 470 PC is the California statute that defines “forgery.”
Penal Code 470 PC lists several ways one can be liable for forgery under California law. These include:
As to the last act, “certain documents” include things like:
Note that a prosecutor must prove the following elements of the crime to convict you of forgery:
Questions often arise under this statute on the meaning of “intent to defraud.”
Under this code section, you intend to defraud if you:
Note that you act with this intent even if:
Example: Nia writes Sal a $20.00 check for cutting her grass. Sal writes in an extra zero on the check, so it looks like the payment amount is $200. Sal wants to cheat Nia and the bank out of extra money.
Here, Sal acts with an intent to defraud. He tried to deceive Nia and the bank when he altered the check. Further, Sal is guilty of forgery even if he is not successful in cashing the bad check.
Here at Shouse Law Group, we have represented literally thousands of people charged with fraud crimes like forgery. In our experience, the following three defenses have proven very effective with prosecutors, judges, and juries.
Claiming you had no fraudulent intent is one of our strongest forgery defenses because prosecutors have no way to prove what was going on in your head definitively. All the D.A. has to go on is circumstantial evidence that may leave enough reasonable doubt for a jury to believe that:
Once prosecutors see their case may be too hard to prove, your forgery case could be dropped.
Many forgery cases we see arise out of complex business or legal dealings. They also often occur in workplace settings.
Given this, it is not unusual for our clients to be falsely accused of forgery by someone in a desperate attempt to cover up their own guilt. In these situations, we rely on such evidence as
to demonstrate that you did nothing wrong and that your accuser is the one who should face charges.
Sometimes California police officers cross the line when interrogating suspects. We have had clients who were unduly pressured or threatened with violence by police to confess, which is illegal under California law.
When this happens, we first compile any evidence of your coerced confession (often from bodycam footage or other recordings). Then we ask the judge to suppress the confession as evidence in your case because it was unlawfully obtained.
If the judge grants our request, the D.A. may be left with too little evidence to convict you of forgery.
A forgery conviction can result in a fine and/or jail time.
If charged as a misdemeanor, the crime is punishable by:
If charged as a felony, the offense is punishable by:
Note, though, that a violation of this statute is only charged as a misdemeanor if:
A forgery conviction may have negative immigration consequences.
One California court has ruled that forgery is a serious offense involving moral turpitude. 11
This is a problem because “crimes involving moral turpitude” can result in a non-citizen being either:
Therefore, a PC 470 conviction could have damaging immigration consequences.
You can get an expungement of a forgery conviction.
Penal Code 1203.4 PC says an expungement releases you from many of the hardships associated with a conviction.
You can get an expungement if you:
Note that a judge may even award expungement if you violate a probation term.
A conviction under this statute may hurt your gun rights.
California law says that it is illegal for convicted felons to:
Remember that a prosecutor may charge forgery as either:
If charged as a felony, and you are convicted, then you would lose your California gun rights.
The statute of limitations for forgery in California depends on whether the crime is charged as a felony or a misdemeanor. The prosecutor may bring charges for felony forgery up to four years after the crime is discovered or is committed (whichever is later).
For misdemeanor forgery, the time limit to press charges is one year after the alleged commission of the offense. 12
There are three crimes related to forgery. These are:
Penal Code 484f PC is the California statute that makes it a crime to forge someone’s credit card information.
Like with general forgery, you are only guilty of this offense if you act with an intent to defraud.
Penal Code 476 PC is the California statute that makes it a crime to:
Depending on the particular facts of a case, you could be accused of both:
Penal Code 350 PC is the California statute that makes it a crime to manufacture, sell, or possess for sale, any counterfeit trademarks.
This statute punishes those who make, sell or intend to sell “knock-off” versions of branded products.
Note that a prosecutor does not have to prove an intent to defraud under this code section.
For more in-depth information on forgery laws, refer to the following scholarly articles:
