CHAPTER 41
FORGERY AND FRAUDULENT PRACTICES
Sec.
4101. Forgery.
4101.1. Digital forgery.
4102. Simulating objects of antiquity, rarity, etc.
4103. Fraudulent destruction, removal or concealment of recordable instruments.
4104. Tampering with records or identification.
4105. Bad checks.
4106. Access device fraud.
4106.1. Unlawful device-making equipment.
4107. Deceptive or fraudulent business practices.
4107.1. Deception relating to kosher food products.
4107.2. Deception relating to certification of minority business enterprise or women's
business enterprise.
4108. Commercial bribery and breach of duty to act disinterestedly.
4109. Rigging publicly exhibited contest.
4110. Defrauding secured creditors.
4111. Fraud in insolvency.
4112. Receiving deposits in a failing financial institution.
4113. Misapplication of entrusted property and property of government or financial institutions.
4114. Securing execution of documents by deception.
4115. Falsely impersonating persons privately employed.
4116. Copying; recording devices.
4116.1. Unlawful operation of recording device in motion picture theater.
4117. Insurance fraud.
4118. Washing vehicle titles.
4119. Trademark counterfeiting.
4120. Identity theft.
4121. Possession and use of unlawful devices.
Enactment. Chapter 41 was added December 6, 1972, P.L.1482, No.334, effective in six months.
Cross References. Chapter 41 is referred to in section 9122.1 of this title; section 8801 of Title 20
(Decedents, Estates and Fiduciaries); section 3575 of Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial
Procedure).
§ 4101. Forgery.
(a) Offense defined.--A person is guilty of forgery if, with intent to defraud or injure anyone, or with
knowledge that he is facilitating a fraud or injury to be perpetrated by anyone, the
actor:
(1) alters any writing of another without his authority;
(2) makes, completes, executes, authenticates, issues or transfers any writing so that
it purports to be the act of another who 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 he knows to be forged in a manner specified in paragraphs
(1) or (2) of this subsection.
(b) Definition.--As used in this section the word "writing" includes printing or any other method of
recording information, money, coins, tokens, stamps, seals, credit cards, badges,
trademarks, electronic signatures and other symbols of value, right, privilege, or
identification.
(c) Grading.--Forgery is a felony of the second degree if the writing is or purports to be part
of an issue of money, securities, postage or revenue stamps, or other instruments
issued by the government, or part of an issue of stock, bonds or other instruments
representing interests in or claims against any property or enterprise. Forgery is
a felony of the third degree if the writing is or purports to be a will, deed, contract,
release, commercial instrument, or other document evidencing, creating, transferring,
altering, terminating, or otherwise affecting legal relations. Otherwise forgery is
a misdemeanor of the first degree.
(Dec. 16, 2002, P.L.1953, No.226, eff. 60 days)
2002 Amendment. Act 226 amended subsec. (b).
Cross References. Section 4101 is referred to in section 3311 of this title; section 5552 of Title 42
(Judiciary and Judicial Procedure).
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
127
cases (
13 in the last 5 years), 1976–2026 · leading case:
Commonwealth v. Green, 203 A.3d 250 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2019).
Commonwealth v. Green, 203 A.3d 250 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2019).
· cites it 9× “18 Pa.C.S. § 4101. The Commonwealth offered no evidence linking Appellant to any of the other seventeen people who cashed similar checks.”
Commonwealth v. Shamberger, 788 A.2d 408 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2001).
· cites it 4× “334, § 1, 18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a)(2), which provides [15] : § 4101.”
Commonwealth v. Hughes, 986 A.2d 159 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2009).
· cites it 10× “18 Pa.C.S. § 4101. ¶ 4 In Muller , this Court held that a bank check was a commercial instrument, citing to the version of 13 Pa.”
Commonwealth v. Orie, 88 A.3d 983 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2014).
· cites it 3× “18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a) (emphasis supplied).”
Commonwealth v. Kelley, 136 A.3d 1007 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2016).
“1 18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a)(3). 2 18 Pa.C.S. § 5126(a).”
Commonwealth v. Adams, 177 A.3d 359 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2017).
· cites it 2× “Redding later pleaded guilty to the criminal conspiracy ____________________________________________ 1By the time of Appellant’s trial, he faced 21 counts of forgery, 18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a)(3), 14 counts of theft by deception, 18 Pa.”
Commonwealth v. Muller, 482 A.2d 1307 (Pa. 1984).
· cites it 6× “NOTES [1] 18 Pa.C.S. § 4101. [2] Id. § 3922. [3] Id.”
Commonwealth v. Deans, 610 A.2d 32 (Pa. 1992).
· cites it 4× “On August 11, 1987, the state attorney general's office filed a criminal complaint charging appellant with forgery, 18 Pa.C.S. § 4101, [1] for attempting to collect a $75,000 prize on an allegedly altered lottery ticket.”
Commonwealth v. Lettau, 955 A.2d 360 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2008).
· cites it 2× “Lettau contends that the trial court erred in overruling his objection and denying his motion for mistrial based upon the prosecutor's repeated reference to Lettau's pre-arrest silence during direct examination of the investigating officer and later on Lettau's cross-examination.”
Commonwealth v. Lenhoff, 796 A.2d 338 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2002).
· cites it 2× “18 Pa.C.S. § 4101 (emphasis added) calls for the grading of forgery as follows: (c) Grading.”
Commonwealth v. Lettau, 986 A.2d 114 (Pa. 2009).
· cites it 2× “NOTES [1] 18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a)(3); 18 Pa.C.S. § 3925.”
Commonwealth v. McCarthy, 180 A.3d 368 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2018).
“18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a)(2), and (3). As these statutory definitions indicate, the charges against McCarthy involve, inter alia , the deprivation or the taking of property from another without authorization.”
— 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4101(A)(1) — 1 case
— 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4101(A)(2) — 1 case
— 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4101(a) — 14 cases
Commonwealth v. Orie, 88 A.3d 983 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2014).
“18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a) (emphasis supplied).”
Commonwealth v. Green, 203 A.3d 250 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2019).
“18 Pa.C.S. § 4101. The Commonwealth offered no evidence linking Appellant to any of the other seventeen people who cashed similar checks.”
— 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4101(a)(1) — 15 cases
— 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4101(a)(2) — 23 cases
Commonwealth v. Shamberger, 788 A.2d 408 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2001).
“334, § 1, 18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a)(2), which provides [15] : § 4101.”
Commonwealth v. McCarthy, 180 A.3d 368 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2018).
“18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a)(2), and (3). As these statutory definitions indicate, the charges against McCarthy involve, inter alia , the deprivation or the taking of property from another without authorization.”
Commonwealth v. Green, 203 A.3d 250 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2019).
“18 Pa.C.S. § 4101. The Commonwealth offered no evidence linking Appellant to any of the other seventeen people who cashed similar checks.”
— 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4101(a)(3) — 22 cases
Commonwealth v. Green, 203 A.3d 250 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2019).
“18 Pa.C.S. § 4101. The Commonwealth offered no evidence linking Appellant to any of the other seventeen people who cashed similar checks.”
Commonwealth v. Orie, 88 A.3d 983 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2014).
“18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a) (emphasis supplied).”
Commonwealth v. Kelley, 136 A.3d 1007 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2016).
“1 18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a)(3). 2 18 Pa.C.S. § 5126(a).”
Commonwealth v. Adams, 177 A.3d 359 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2017).
“Redding later pleaded guilty to the criminal conspiracy ____________________________________________ 1By the time of Appellant’s trial, he faced 21 counts of forgery, 18 Pa.C.S. § 4101(a)(3), 14 counts of theft by deception, 18 Pa.”
Commonwealth v. Lettau, 955 A.2d 360 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2008).
“Lettau contends that the trial court erred in overruling his objection and denying his motion for mistrial based upon the prosecutor's repeated reference to Lettau's pre-arrest silence during direct examination of the investigating officer and later on Lettau's cross-examination.”
— 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4101(c) — 7 cases
Commonwealth v. Hughes, 986 A.2d 159 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2009).
“18 Pa.C.S. § 4101. ¶ 4 In Muller , this Court held that a bank check was a commercial instrument, citing to the version of 13 Pa.”
Commonwealth v. Lenhoff, 796 A.2d 338 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2002).
“18 Pa.C.S. § 4101 (emphasis added) calls for the grading of forgery as follows: (c) Grading.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
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