You can have a lot of questions when you find yourself accused of forgery. For one thing, you will want to know exactly what you are being accused of. This is especially true in a state such as Minnesota, where we are strict about many White Collar crimes. Fortunately, the rules are relatively simple and can be explained here.
What Is Forgery?
Minnesota’s statutes define forgery as knowingly using false writing to purposely injure or defraud. This can take many forms.
It includes creating labels for merchandise that misidentifies its maker without the consent of the maker, falsifying documents for a private business, and knowingly using a faked document to introduce or recommend something.
People aren’t allowed to create fake membership cards or to change official membership cards. The types of cards included in this statute is any business, professional, fraternal association, and labor union. Carrying around a card like this that you know is fake isn’t allowed either.
Anyone faking papers that let you use transportation on a common carrier is also considered to be a forger.
It can also include destroying something to keep it from being used in a court of law. Minnesota particularly frowns on offering evidence at trial that you know to be fake.
Sub-categories of Forgery
There are types of forgery that are considered more heinous than others, and these types are called aggravated forgery. Aggravated forgery is when the documents forged includes a corporation’s official seals, public records, court documents, the records of public offices, or a bank account or records of an entity or person who holds money for the state. Aggravated forgery can also be a person faking or altering certificates or returns that are evidence of an account’s contents.
Check forgery has its own statute, Section 609.631, which prohibits using a forged check or similar instrument even if it isn’t accepted.
Punishment For Forgery
Minnesota takes forgery seriously. Anyone convicted of it can be sentenced to jail for up to 3 years. You can also be fined up to $5000, or you can wind up paying the fine and spending time in jail.
If that faked evidence is used as evidence in a court proceeding for a felony charge, the guilty party can be charged up to $10,000 and spend up to 5 years in jail.
Aggravated forgery can get up to 10 years in jail, and fines of up to $20,000.
Check forgery will get higher fines and longer jail times, depending on how much the forged check or bundle of forged checks were for. If the check was for more than $35,000, than the maximum jail sentence is 20 years and the fine can be up to $100,000. For bad checks (or a collection of bad checks) or more than $2,500, the jail time could be 10 years and the fine maxes out at $20000. Bad checks used to get goods valued between $250 and $2,500 are treated like an ordinary forgery. Forged checks for less than $250 can get a person up to a year of jail time and $3000 in fines. The punishment for checks under $250
Getting Legal Help
There are many nuances involved in the state’s forgery laws, and the results of losing your case can be devastating. If you are accused of forgery and are looking for representation, contact us. We have years of experience in White Collar criminal law, including forgery, to bring to any case we see. You can get a confidential case evaluation when you contact us, and you can call 651-435-6500. We look forward to helping you.
Posted 30th November 2020 by DeVore Law Office