Forgery leads to jail time

A 47-year-old man who forged a criminal record check he needed for a job was sentenced recently to 21 days in jail after his employer learned it was altered.

Ross W. Milligan appeared before Chief Judge Nancy Orr in provincial court in Charlottetown where he pleaded guilty to using a forged document as if it was genuine.

Crown attorney Jeff MacDonald told the court that on June 19 an RCMP officer was responding to a call where he spoke to Milligan’s employer about an unrelated matter.

During that conversation, the officer learned Milligan had submitted a criminal record check during the job application process, which he passed.

MacDonald said the officer knew Milligan had a criminal record, which should have shown up on the check.

That record included two prior fraud convictions from more than 20 years ago along with more recent convictions for breaching a recognizance and breaching an undertaking.

MacDonald said the date on the record check Milligan gave his employer looked altered and there was another box on the form that looked darker than the rest.

Milligan later told police the document was altered.

He also lost his job. Before sentencing Milligan, Orr said falsifying a criminal record check is a serious matter.

Many businesses require them, and they don’t call police to confirm if the documents are valid, Orr said.

“A great deal of it goes on trust.”

Milligan asked to be able to serve his sentence on weekends, but Orr noted he lives in Nova Scotia and she denied his request.