Edison NJ White Collar Criminal Defense Lawyers
In New Jersey, tampering with public records or information is a serious criminal offense. The experienced criminal defense and DWI attorneys at the Law Offices of Jonathan Marshall (home) represent individuals charged with credit card fraud, bribery, political corruption, and insurance fraud throughout New Jersey including in Piscataway, Edison, Metuchen, and Carteret. Please call our New Brunswick office at 732-246-7126 for immediate assistance. Our defense team includes former prosecutors who know the system and will work diligently to provide you with the best possible defense.
New Jersey Tampering with Public Records Charge: N.J.S.A. 2C:28-7
The New Jersey criminal statute governing charges for tampering with public records or information is N.J.S.A. 2C:28-7 which provides:
§ 2C:28-7. Tampering with public records or information
a. Offense defined. A person commits an offense if he:
- Knowingly makes a false entry in, or false alteration of, any record, document or thing belonging to, or received or kept by, the government for information or record, or required by law to be kept by others for information of the government;
- Makes, presents, offers for filing, or uses any record, document or thing knowing it to be false, and with purpose that it be taken as a genuine part of information or records referred to in paragraph (1); or
- Purposely and unlawfully destroys, conceals, removes, mutilates, or otherwise impairs the verity or availability of any such record, document or thing.
b. Grading. An offense under subsection a. is a disorderly persons offense unless the actor’s purpose is to defraud or injure anyone, in which case the offense is a crime of the third degree.
c. A person commits a crime of the fourth degree if he purposely and unlawfully alters, destroys, conceals, removes or disables any camera or other monitoring device including any videotape, film or other medium used to record sound or images that is installed in a patrol vehicle.
Penalties for Criminal Offense of Tampering with Public Records in NJ
As the above statute clearly enumerates, a violation of section (a) is a disorderly persons offense (Expungement of Disorderly Persons Offenses) which involves up to six (6) months in prison if convicted. However, if the crime is committed with the intent to defraud or injure anyone it is considered a third degree criminal offense (Degree of Offenses in New Jersey) in New Jersey. A third degree crime involves one (1) to five (5) years in prison in convicted.
