Forgery

Forgery. (a) A person commits the offense of forgery if: (1) The person forges a writing which is or purports to be part of an issue of money, securities, postage or revenue stamps, or other instruments issued by any government or part of an issue of stock, bonds, or other instruments representing interests in or claims against any property or enterprise; or (2) The person forges a writing which is or purports to be a will, deed, contract, release, commercial instrument, check, negotiable instrument, or other document evidencing, creating, transferring, altering, terminating or otherwise affecting legal relations. (b) A person commits the offense of forgery if, with intent to defraud or injure anyone, or with knowledge that he or she is facilitating a fraud or injury to be perpetrated by anyone, the person: (1) Alters any writing of another without authority from the other person; or (2) Makes, completes, executes, authenticates, issues, or transfers any writing so that it purports to be the act of another or did not authorize that act, or to have been executed at a time or place or in a numbered sequence other than was in fact the case, or to be a copy of an original when no such original existed; or (3) Utters any writing which the person knows to be forged in a manner specified in subsection (b)(1) or (b)(2) of this section. (c) A person convicted of forgery may be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years. Source: PL 3-71, § 1 (§ 441).