Fake engineers a growing problem

[CountDeMoney]

Phony engineers and architects are relatively rare, but they pose a dangerous problem

By Lorraine Mirabella
February 28, 2010

Framed professional licenses from three states and a Johns Hopkins University diploma hung on the wall of Lawrence D. Novakowski's office at the firm where he made a six-figure income as an electrical engineer.

But as his bosses, colleagues and clients would find out, the licenses were fake and the diploma likely ordered off the Internet. Novakowski, a 51-year-old Westminster resident, was no engineer, prosecutors now say.

While still rare, instances of employees or contractors passing themselves off as licensed appear to be happening more frequently, perhaps as the recession has driven the unemployed to extremes. State officials say the cases are worrisome because of the potential impact an unlicensed and untrained person could have on the design, construction and upkeep of projects including public buildings, hospitals and schools.

Last week, regulators announced another case in which a Hagerstown man falsely represented himself as an architect and practiced without a license - the third time in less than six months that an investigation by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation has led to criminal charges for alleged impersonations of design professionals in the state.

The recent spate has alarmed state officials. Jeffrey E. Tuer, an investigator in the department's licensing division, said that credential misrepresentations can be as serious as violent crimes.

"This can be just as deadly," Tuer said. "If [buildings or their systems] fail or collapse, they can be more deadly than a mugger on a street with a gun."

Officials with the state labor department, which oversees licensing of workers ranging from plumbers to cosmetologists, declined to identify employers or building owners duped by unlicensed workers, saying doing so would compromise criminal cases. In the three recent cases, including Novakowski's, officials said the defendants didn't jeopardize safety. The other two cases involve people posing as architects, and their designs weren't used, officials said.

Nonetheless, Stanley Botts, the state's commissioner of occupational and professional licensing, said these cases could undercut public confidence in design professionals.

"Incidents of impersonation of licensed professionals have been rare in the past, but we are hearing about more of them," Botts said. "Any time you have people holding themselves out as professionals in a field they are not qualified to be in, you could have extensive damage."

The state doesn't keep detailed statistics on cases stemming from fake licenses or people posing as professionals, but industry and state sources say anecdotally they have seen more of these situations lately. Still, few complaints to occupational and professional licensing boards have landed in court - just 16 civil or criminal cases were filed in the past four fiscal years.

"It used to be very rare, but we're seeing it more frequently," said Bob Mead, executive director of the Maryland Society of Professional Engineers. "It's always very troubling when it happens, and it's very serious."

He speculated that high unemployment has made some job seekers desperate: "People are having a harder time getting jobs."

In the Novakowski case, none of the three engineering firms where he worked was identified in his November indictment, which charges Novakowski with one count of practicing without a license and two counts of counterfeiting a public seal. Even after he was charged, he continued seeking engineering work, according to the Howard County state's attorney's office, which increased his bond as a result. A trial is set for April 19.

When contacted by phone, Novakowski said the Howard County case has been "an embarrassment to my family," but he declined to comment further. Court records show that over the years, he has been convicted of numerous theft charges in Maryland and Tennessee, and faced a $77,850 federal tax lien judgment in June. In the latest case announced by state regulators, Anthony Robert Alongi, 48, of Hagerstown was charged with felony theft, falsely representing himself as an architect and practicing architecture without a license. Alongi is accused of collecting close to $2,000 from a property owner who hired him to design a commercial building renovation in Hagerstown, without knowing he was not licensed.

The third criminal case involves Darren Dewitt Comedy, 50, of Bowie, who was indicted by a Prince George's County grand jury in October on charges of forgery, identity theft, felony theft and practicing architecture without a license.

Comedy is accused of placing the seal of his former college instructor, a licensed architect, on plans submitted to the Prince George's County permits office in February 2009 for a restaurant in Largo. The permits office contacted the licensed architect with questions about the application, and the architect, who had no involvement in the project, contacted the state Board of Architects, which investigated.

Other cases also have involved using another professional's seal. John Markwalter III was fined $20,000 by the state Board for Professional Engineers in February 2007 after taking a seal and license number belonging to his father and posing as a professional engineer on jobs, including designing a kitchen addition for a home in Anne Arundel County.

Markwalter, an Eastern Shore resident, maintained that he could perform engineering services legally without a license. But an administrative law judge, Kathleen Chapman, disagreed, allowing the state board to impose the penalty.

In December 2006, the state Board of Architects fined contractor Christopher Patete $20,000 for using his deceased father's architect seal on a structural engineering job in which a garage was improperly attached to a home in Carroll County. And in March 2008, the board issued a $5,000 fine to Marc A. Harris, who was hired to complete a professional engineering design on a renovation project and used the architect license of a former employer.

"This does happen, and it happens in all professions," said Arthur Schwartz, deputy executive director of the National Society of Professional Engineers. "It's of great concern. We're deeply concerned about any individual who does not have an engineer's license and who holds themselves out as a professional engineer and a practicing engineer. Engineers are so deeply involved in protecting the public health and safety."

The Novakowski case became a top priority for Tuer, a former Philadelphia police officer, after the state engineer board referred the case in early November.

An engineering firm, which Tuer would only describe as having several U.S. locations, had discovered after hiring Novakowski and checking the state's license database that his license number wasn't on file. Novakowski was fired, Tuer said.

During his time at that firm, Novakowski was hired to work as a forensic engineer troubleshooting problems with electrical structures in government and private- sector buildings, Tuer's investigation found.

"When they would fail or catch on fire, he would look at why they failed or caught on fire," Tuer said. Novakowski was scheduled to give expert testimony in court regarding an electrical fire, Tuer said, but that was cut short by the investigation.

After being fired by that firm, Novakowski was hired by a second firm, another reputable and large firm in Maryland, Tuer said. Again, after a short time, it was discovered that Novakowski was not licensed.

"But then he was picked up by a third company," Tuer said.

That company checked his license and discovered it was not valid, Tuer said. When confronted, Novakowski had an explanation, Tuer said. He presented his employer with a letter, purportedly on state labor department letterhead on behalf of the state engineer board, saying the license was to be reinstated in August. Tuer said the letterhead was fake, the sender's name invented. When asked to present his university transcript, he provided a fake Hopkins transcript, most likely ordered off the Internet, Tuer said.

"If you didn't go to Hopkins, it looks like a real transcript," Tuer said. He believes Novakowski had researched the Hopkins engineering program so thoroughly that he was able to accurately list all the courses required to get a degree. He is accused of using a license number once held by someone else, who Tuer believes is either long retired or dead.

Tuer is unable to say, beyond the fake credentials, how Novakowski managed to pass himself off as an engineer in the workplace and with co-workers. He said he believes Novakowski has had no formal college education. Tuer was not able to verify Novakowski's statements to him about serving in the Marine Corps or working as an electrician.

Mead, of the professional engineer society, said Novakowski might have worked in positions that did not require day-to-day supervision. "There are a lot of people who can just fool everybody for a long time," Mead said. "And he apparently fooled three engineering firms."

Mead said he suspects more cases of undetected fraud may be out there.

"If someone thinks they're hiring a reputable firm, and they end up with someone posing as an engineer, that's doubly disturbing," he said.

[Josquius]

Darren Comedy?
Awesome name.

But yeah, I'm surprised this is such a problem. My degree has all sorts of authentication seals and stuff on it and , most importantly, its registered with the university. Maybe they need to make checking registrations quick and painless?

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

But yeah, I'm surprised this is such a problem. My degree has all sorts of authentication seals and stuff on it and , most importantly, its registered with the university. Maybe they need to make checking registrations quick and painless?

It already is.  At worst, all that is needed to verify an engineer's license is a phone call or email to the state license board with their name and license number.  The problem is too many people simply don't bother to take any positive action to verify licenses.

[Iormlund]

I would feign outrage, but I don't have a license either. 

[Martim Silva]

Just ask them to tell a joke.

If it's funny, they're not engineers.

True story, too.

[Scipio]

Who cares?  They're already the Oompa-Loompas of the science world.

[Neil]

Who cares?  They're already the Oompa-Loompas of the science world.

Engineering isn't a science, but rather the application thereof.

[garbon]

I would feign outrage, but I don't have a license either. 

Spain

[MadImmortalMan]

I thought the thread would be about "sanitation engineers" aka janitors and the like. 

[Barrister]

In Alberta we prosecuted a fake dentist.

People just don't check up on credentials it appears.

[jimmy olsen]

How do their coworkers not catch on real quick?

[sbr]

In Alberta we prosecuted a fake dentist.

People just don't check up on credentials it appears.

Is fake dentistry a 'federal' charge?

[Monoriu]

It is a very common problem in China.  They fake everything.  You gotta check everything: their professional qualifications, their universities, their previous jobs.  And don't rely on the telephone number provided by the guy who is being checked. 

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

How do their coworkers not catch on real quick?

The fake PEs work as independent engineers.

[Barrister]

In Alberta we prosecuted a fake dentist.

People just don't check up on credentials it appears.

Is fake dentistry a 'federal' charge?

I wasn't a federal prosecutor in Alberta.