Paul J. Newman. Image credit: New York State Office of the Attorney General
A New York State man has been charged with forging a professional engineer’s stamp while submitting building plans to the Town of Halfmoon. The man, Paul J. Newman, was found guilty in 2017 of pretending to be an architect.
The latest charges came following a public assist call made to the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office. The stamp and signature were reportedly used by Newman, submitting building plans without that engineer’s knowledge or consent, according to reporting by CBS6 Albany.
In April 2017, we reported that Newman was charged in three counts of pretending to be an architect. The man was neither registered nor licensed, yet worked on numerous housing projects in the Capital Region. Caught in an investigation dubbed “Operation Vandelay Industries,” Newman was accused of drafting architectural renderings for over 100 projects, as well as foundation inspections, field reports, engineer letters, and energy compliance certificates.
Newman entered a guilty plea in all three counts. In September 2017, he was sentenced to 2 1/3 to 7 years in state prison.
Newman isn’t the first to be convicted of such offences recently. In 2020, we reported on a ‘fake architect’ in the UK convicted after false claims on LinkedIn. In 2018, two California men were sentenced to up to 257 years in prison for a ‘fake engineering’ scam.
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