§133.  Filing or maintaining false public records

A.  Filing false public records is the filing or depositing for record in any public office or with any public official, or the maintaining as required by law, regulation, or rule, with knowledge of its falsity, of any of the following:

(1)  Any forged document.

(2)  Any wrongfully altered document.

(3)  Any document containing a false statement or false representation of a material fact.

B.  The good faith inclusion of any item of cost on a Medical Assistance Program cost report which is later determined by audit to be nonreimbursable under state and federal regulations shall be an affirmative defense to a violation of this Section.

C.(1)  Whoever commits the crime of filing false public records shall be imprisoned for not more than five years with or without hard labor or shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both.

(2)  In addition to the penalty provided for in Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, a person convicted of the provisions of this Section may be ordered to pay restitution to the state if the state suffered a loss as a result of the offense.  Restitution shall include the payment of legal interest at the rate provided in R.S. 13:4202.

Amended by Acts 1980, No. 454, §1; Acts 1982, No. 676, §1; Acts 1992, No. 539, §1; Acts 1995, No. 787, §1; Acts 2010, No. 811, §1, eff. Aug. 15, 2011.