Florida: Son Forged Engineer Father’s Signature Hundreds of Times

Enrique Fernandez Jr. took a shortcut to turning into an engineer, in line with the Florida Board of Skilled Engineers. As a substitute of going to varsity and finding out engineering, he appropriated his useless father’s Florida engineering credentials and employed himself out doing constructing inspections, the board claims, and he even allegedly renewed his father’s credentials and redirected contact data to himself, enabling the fraud. 

Since his father’s demise in 2018, the board alleges, Fernandez Jr. had been forging his father’s signature and utilizing his skilled seal to pose as a licensed engineer. He signed off on inspections for high-profile tasks like 3900 Alton Street, a 9-story Miami Seashore condominium constructing, and the Pier 66 multi-use redevelopment in Fort Lauderdale, amongst many others.

He now faces a 724-count administrative grievance from the Florida Board of Skilled Engineers. “We wanted to guarantee that we obtained every thing that’s solid,” defined Wendy Anderson, the board’s lead investigator, so every inspection is within the grievance.

The board seeks fines of as much as $5,000 per violation, probably totaling $3.6 million, a desires the state to problem a cease-and-desist order. Fernandez couldn’t be reached for touch upon the allegations.

Whereas re-inspections of buildings inspected by Fernandez revealed no security hazards, the investigation prices present some perspective on the worth of an engineering board. A latest invoice proposed by some Florida state senators would have eliminated stand-alone state boards for a number of professions together with engineering, whose members are unpaid however whose bills are coated by the state.

The lawmakers proposed transferring skilled oversight to the Dept. of Enterprise and Skilled Regulation (DBPR), part of the chief department, as a strategy to streamline providers, scale back regulatory obstacles and centralize skilled oversight. Proponents additionally argued it could decrease prices and improve effectivity, aligning with Florida’s broader deregulation initiatives.

Opponents argued that abolishing the board would have undermined expertise-driven regulation, emphasizing that specialised boards guarantee public security and preserve nationwide competitiveness for professions like engineering and accounting. 

The invoice’s sponsors withdrew it in early Could.

Limits on Different State Engineering Boards

Florida isn’t the one state to think about bundling skilled, licensed enforcement or eliminating a separate board. Nevada’s Senate Invoice 78 (SB 78) earlier this 12 months proposed consolidating administrative features of licensing boards, together with the Nevada Board of Skilled Engineers and Land Surveyors, beneath the Workplace of Nevada Boards, Commissions, and Councils Requirements. It failed this month.

In a February 2025 coverage assertion, Nevada’s board wrote: “…we fear that the general effectiveness of the board in its present type will diminish whether it is consolidated into a bigger board with 4 fewer engineers, and the discount or elimination of specialised workers and course of which have allowed us to be a hit for Nevada, our licensees and the group.”  

Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Virginia, and Washington all have sundown assessment legal guidelines in place that require legislative evaluations of licensing boards each 5–12 years, relying on the state, to justify continuation.

How Florida Investigation Began

The case towards Fernandez Jr. started with a grievance towards his father by a contractor or company that seen irregularities in his inspection stories. Following the invention that his father had handed away in 2018, the board’s possible trigger panel produced the report and submitted it for assessment by an administrative legislation choose. Fernandez will have the ability to enchantment the board’s findings. 

Fernandez Jr.’s inspections, although non-structural, coated important plumbing, electrical, and mechanical techniques for properties in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, says the board. He labored for a number of completely different companies, one in every of which dismissed him after discovering he lacked an engineering diploma or license, prompting re-inspections by licensed engineers, the board wrote.

In Florida, the board’s enforcement powers are restricted. It might problem a judgment of $3.6 million in potential fines but when Fernandez Jr. fails to conform, enforcement is handed over to the state DBPR to pursue courtroom judgments, liens, wage garnishment, or rent assortment companies. Nevertheless, Fernandez Jr.’s monetary capability, potential chapter and the DBPR’s useful resource constraints could restrict restoration. 

“Ours is an administrative function,” says Anderson of the board’s enforcement capability. “We handed the case on to legislation enforcement with the hope that they’d take it on.”