A B.C. man has been charged with 49 counts of fraud-related offences for allegedly inspecting heavy machinery without the proper certification.
RCMP inspectors believe that Paddy Gene Doherty, a 37-year-old Fruitvale resident, fraudulently conducted inspections of cranes, forklifts and garage hoists for about 27 businesses in the Kootenays region.
He is accused of defrauding businesses in 10 communities of $40,000 paid in inspection fees between January and June of 2009.
"More alarming then the monetary loss to the businesses is the risk to the public and workers' safety, considering that in some of the cases, the re-inspections by a certified inspector failed the equipment that had previously been approved by Doherty," RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said in a release.
Police allege that Doherty presented the forged signature of an engineer and a forged "engineer stamp" as his qualifications during the inspections. His real certification expired in 2008.
Mounties are warning anyone who had their machinery inspected by Doherty to have it re-tested.
