KINDERHOOK – A Kinderhook man has been charged by State Police with 16 felony counts for allegedly using a duplicate stamp of an actual state licensed engineer to approve building reports for customers.

John Novine, 45, is a designer/draftsman, allegedly drew up various plans for homes, garages and additions, and illegally stamped and signed them using a duplicate stamp of an actual state licensed engineer. He made the stamp without the engineer’s knowledge or permission, then charged customers for stamping the plans and allowing them to be filed with building inspectors in the towns of Ghent, Kinderhook and Chatham, police maintain.

Novine was charged with six counts of forgery in the second degree, six counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, three counts of falsifying business records in the first degree and one count of criminal possession of a forgery device.

Novine was arraigned and remanded to the Columbia County jail in lieu of $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond.

Police ask anyone who may have had plans drafted by Novine and question the authenticity of the engineer’s stamp and signature to contact Investigator Abdul Weed at State Police in Livingston at 518-851-2001.