-Penal code 470 defines a crime of forgery.
Now, when most people think of forgery,
they think about signing somebody else's name
to a document.
So I steal a check from the checkbook of Dolores Smith
and I write a check to myself, and I sign her name.
Obviously, I'm not Dolores Smith.
I don't have her permission to do so.
So that's forgery.
And really that's a kind of classic example of forgery.
But under California law, the legal definition of forgery
is really much broader than that.
Forgery is any time you create, use, or alter
a document for the purpose of defrauding others.
So for example, suppose I'm the executor of my dad's will.
And he leaves $100,000.
And it's basically 20,000 to what each of the five children.
But I go and alter the will so that it says 50,000 goes to me,
and the rest is divided among my siblings.
That would be an example of forgery,
even if I don't change the signature itself.
Or if I submit a wrongful workers' compensation claim.
And I assert that I'm injured, when I'm really not.
Or I assert that I have not been working, when really I've
been working under the table.
That would be an example of forgery.
So it's any time that you use a written document
to try to defraud somebody.