The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept. (LACSD) accused two phony engineers of using stolen software to forge the engineering seal and signature of a former employer. The suspects, Wilfrido Rodriguez and Ruben Gutierrez, allegedly used the fake stamps to sell illegal drawings to hundreds of residential and commercial projects built throughout Southern California over 10 years. Because the suspects are not licensed professional civil engineers, structures built based on their engineering calculations and specifications may be unsafe and not suitable for habitation. The investigation started in April 2014, when Palos Verdes Engineering Co. informed the sheriff's fraud and cyber crimes bureau it suspected its two former employees of fraud. The duo allegedly provided fraudulent structural engineering plans for residential room additions, single-family residences and two-story multi-unit duplexes. Rodriguez and Gutierrez worked as architectural and engineering drafters, so they had the basic knowledge to produce the drawings.
