If the amount of the forged check was below the statutory threshold amount, the offender may be charged with a misdemeanor with a punishment of up to a year in jail. If the forged check is above a threshold amount, the offender would be charged with a felony, and the punishment could be over a year in prison.
What are the three types of forgery? Three common types of forgery are signature forgery, art forgery, and document forgery. Each of these types of forgery involves different methods of creating or altering documents, signifiers, and objects with the intent to deceive.
There are potential defenses that might be sufficient to get the charges dropped. Consent: If you had the other person's consent to sign or alter the document, you did not commit a forgery. Lack of intent: Intent to defraud is a critical element of forgery.
If a person creates, alters, or possesses a forged instrument, the crime is a Class I felony. The punishment is a fine of 4 to 10 months in prison, a fine to be set by the judge, or both. The penalty is more serious if an individual is convicted of transporting five or more forged documents.
The first two degrees are felonies and the third degree amounts to a misdemeanor. The first degree forgery involves the actual presentation or use of any falsely made, altered or possessed document with the intent to deceive or defraud. The second degree forgery does not require use or presentation of the documents.
The prosecution will be able to prove the forgery through testimony of the victim as well as using a hand writing expert. That person will be able to compare the writing of the true owner of the check with that of the person who is being investigated.
It is of course difficult, if not impossible, to prove forgery by the testi- mony of incompetent witnesses. In many localities there is no special wit- ness qualified to testify effectively on the technical subject of forgery, espe- cially in connection with difficult cases involving clever forgeries.
(a) It is unlawful for any person to forge or counterfeit any instrument, or possess any counterfeit instrument, with the intent to injure or defraud any person, financial institution, or governmental unit. Any person in violation of this subsection is guilty of a Class I felony.