Penal Code 470: California’s Forgery Law
Most people think of forgery as signing someone else’s name to a document without the person’s permission. But Penal Code 470 – California’s forgery law actually reads much broader than that.
In California, a person commits forgery when he knowingly alters, creates, or uses a written document, intending to commit a fraud. Said another way, forgery is creating or making use of a new document for the forger’s personal benefit and gain.
For example, a person who knowingly deposits a bad check in his bank account commits a forgery, even if he was not the one who signed it or created the false document. Likewise, a con artist who deceives a person into signing a fraudulent paper commits a forgery. As such, California’s forgery law is a sort of “catch all” that criminalizes a wide range of deceptive and fraudulent acts.
