Two men were hit with 487 counts on Wednesday in a complaint alleging they spent years running a scam that has potentially left hundreds of homeowners across Southern California with homes that may not be structurally sound. [...]
Huntington Beach resident Ruben Gutierrez, 43, and 46-year-old Wilfrido Rodriguez of Downey each face numerous counts of forgery, identity theft and grand theft in a scheme involving falsified documents and fraudulent engineering services [...].
— KTLA
"Rodriguez was an engineering drafter and Gutierrez was an architectural designer at Palos Verdes Engineering. Neither Rodriguez nor Gutierrez were licensed architects or civil engineers," a news release published by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.
"Investigators estimate that there were more than 700 residential and commercial properties where fraud allegedly occurred in more than 50 cities in Southern California. If convicted as charged, Rodriguez faces up to 152 years in state prison, while Gutierrez faces a possible maximum sentence of 105 years in prison."
The prison sentences Rodriguez and Gutierrez may face are far more drastic than the 2 1/3-7 years NY State's Paul J. Newman—another highly prominent case of a fake architect—received in the fall of last year.
2 Comments
sounds pretty drastic. People facing less time for rape and murder.
'Civil' engineers, meet criminal courts.
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