Gallardo

INTRODUCTION

After Defendant Kenneth Gallardo stopped paying court-ordered child support for nearly a year, his ex-wife sought an income withholding order. In an effort to thwart her efforts, defendant requested a court hearing to set aside the wage assignment. At the hearing, he denied he was behind on his child support payments, and held up a sheaf of fraudulent papers that he described to the court as cancelled checks and other documents that proved he owed no money. He handed the documents to his disbelieving ex-wife and the San Mateo County Department of Child Support Services attorney at the hearing, who both expressed suspicion about the legitimacy of the documents. The family court denied defendant’s request without prejudice, finding “insufficient evidence” to set aside the wage assignment. A few weeks later, defendant pressed his claim at the department of child support services office, once again providing it with fraudulent documents to review.

Defendant was convicted of two counts of offering forged and fraudulent documents into evidence in violation of Penal Code section 132, and one count of forgery under section 470, subdivision (b). He does not…