There is an interesting case out of Louisiana where Belina Fondren, 52, has been criminally charged for writing high school students fake doctor’s notes to get them out of school for $20 each. Two students alone purchased 14 such notes to use at Evans High School.
Police say that Fondren’s side business was well-known among students at Evans High. It is a sign of the declining competitiveness of our rising generation. There was a time that no self-respecting truant would buy a forged note. Thousands of children learned cursive writing in forging the signature of their parents on such notes.
WVUE reported that a doctor was finally called by the Vernon Parish School Board about the plethora of notes and said that he had never seen the students.
Fondren was charged filing or maintaining false public records. It is a curious type of crime to fit into the criminal code. My question is whether, if she only worked with private school students, if she could have evaded such a charge. There is also the possibility of charging her with the unlicensed practice of medicine. It is possible that staff members are allowed to write these notes on behalf of the doctors. Thus, there might not be a perjury or forgery charge. There is fraud or misappropriation theories (based on her effectively stealing the authority or resources of the medical practice).
Finally, if Fondren is guilty of filing or maintaining false public records, wouldn’t the students also be guilty of the same crime?
Here is the provision under Louisiana law:
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.
I’ve worked with Louisiana physicians half my professional life (as a medical writer for a cardiology clinic, most notably). Physicians commonly delegate the work of producing written excuses from school attenance and/or activities such as gym class to their office staff. It’s an accepted practice,
I can see the “public record” angle, regardless of whether the school accepting the excuse is private, public or parochial. Written excuses from school attendance are a medicolegal document (often copies of bonafide excuses are kept in students’ medical charts) which is a communication not only to school administrations, but the parish truant officer (generally a sworn deputy of the local Sheriff).
An excuse from school attendance for medical reasons is a public record regardless of the kind of school the student attends, because it is a defense against charges of truancy.
Loupgarous………..if a boychild in our central Texas school district “goes huntin'” with his daddy, it’s an excused absence.
I’m not kidding.
P.S. To be fair, I guess girls should be excused if they go with their mothers to the first dsy of the Autmn Sale at Nordstrom’s 😊
Cindy Bragg – on opening day of deer season where I lived in Montana, 1/3 of the males were missing. 1/4 on the opening of elk season.
👍 Paul C!!
I fail to see the crime here. Fondren was merely offering opinions about the health of her high school clients, and was not making a false statement or false representation of a material fact. Therefore, her opinions are not actionable. As for those who may argue that Fondren didn’t actually meet with or diagnose her clients to render her opinions, that too is of no consequence. After all, mental health experts at Yale University have concluded that President Trump has a “dangerous mental illness, . . . [and was] paranoid and delusional,” even though none of those psychiatrists have actually met with or examined the President to render their opinions. Case dismissed. 🌝
Well, since my paternal grandfather burned down his entire elementary school while in the 3rd grade in Vernon Parish, I’d say they’re making progress! Go, Wampus Cats!
BTW….Vernon Parish was named after George Washington’s Mt. Vernon.
She is sure to get a job with trump now.
Whoever told on her is going to get his butt kicked!
I learned to forge my mother’s signature on school notes. $20 is too much.
Paul C! You could have been Vice-Pres!! 😊
When she gets here interview at the Pearly Gates there will be a former student sitting in at the bench in lieu of the chief judge. She will hand the lady a note which says: Straight to Hell in a rotten handbasket.