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[chintanp]

Hundreds of California homes, buildings used plans drafted by 2 phony engineers, say authorities


Hundreds of buildings -- from houses to strip malls -- could face the wrecking ball after California authorities unraveled a decade-long scam involving a pair of phony building engineers who used stolen software to craft bogus blueprints, officials told FoxNews.com.

Wilfrido Rodriguez and Ruben Gutierrez, allegedly posing as licensed professionals and using stolen software, drew up engineering and architectural plans for homes, apartments, commercial properties and strip malls in at least 56 Southern California cities beginning in 2003, according to police. Neither had the training, expertise or credentials to vouch for the safety of the building plans, and authorities are only now grasping the scope of the problem.

"There has never been a case involving alleged engineering fraud of this magnitude," Detective Rod Barton, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau, told FoxNews.com. "Because this involves fraud related to structural engineering, we just don’t know if the houses are safe, unsafe or suitable for habitation."

Read full story at
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/02/09/hundreds-california-homes-buildings-used-plans-drafted-by-2-phony-engineers-say-authorities.html?intcmp=hpbt4#

Posted via Email

[Dr. N. Subramanian]

Dear All,

If it could happen in a much regulated country like USA, think of the situation in India, where our profession is not regulated!

But in India, the client is more interested in the look (and will spend lot of money) and not in the safety and stability of their structures(houses).

Best wishes
NS

[James_Cohen]

Dear All,

“Hundreds of California homes, buildings used plans drafted by 2 phony engineers, say authorities”.

Dr. Subramanian makes a good point that these events are not restricted to any one country; however, frequency of event may be significantly different. Are the consequences and oversight for activities such as these sufficient to act as an effective deterrent? And, is public awareness (both of risk and consequence) sufficient to change behavior from acceptance for short-term gain to rejection of these activities? This last item is a continuing major concern in the United States where hazard mitigation against infrequent events (such as flooding in the Mississippi flood plain) is insufficient to create social change without legislation.

Just a thought.

Best



From: Dr. N. Subramanian [mailto:forum@sefindia.org]
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 2:09 PM
To: econf@sefindia.org
Subject: {E-CONF2016} Re: [Regulating Profession] Structural Engineering Fraud in USA



Dear All,

If it could happen in a much regulated country like USA, think of the situation in India, where our profession is not regulated!

But in India, the client is more interested in the look (and will spend lot of money) and not in the safety and stability of their structures(houses).

Best wishes
NS
chintanp wrote:
Hundreds of California homes, buildings used plans drafted by 2 phony engineers, say authorities


Hundreds of buildings -- from houses to strip malls -- could face the wrecking ball after California authorities unraveled a decade-long scam involving a pair of phony building engineers who used stolen software to craft bogus blueprints, officials told FoxNews.com.

Wilfrido Rodriguez and Ruben Gutierrez, allegedly posing as licensed professionals and using stolen software, drew up engineering and architectural plans for homes, apartments, commercial properties and strip malls in at least 56 Southern California cities beginning in 2003, according to police. Neither had the training, expertise or credentials to vouch for the safety of the building plans, and authorities are only now grasping the scope of the problem.

"There has never been a case involving alleged engineering fraud of this magnitude," Detective Rod Barton, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau, told FoxNews.com. "Because this involves fraud related to structural engineering, we just don’t know if the houses are safe, unsafe or suitable for habitation."

Read full story at
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/02/09/hundreds-california-homes-buildings-used-plans-drafted-by-2-phony-engineers-say-authorities.html?intcmp=hpbt4#

Posted via Email

[suraj]

Safety Never Understood in Bharat/India
Safety cannot be understood by common people in ours
People do not understand personal safety, how we expect them to understand & be aware of building safety
Building is safe to an extent, it stands & we have to wait to its collapse
Civil engineer is no meaningful designation for people herein ours
Most owners build houses for purpose of investment of unaccounted money
Owner has an only plan to dispose, when building after its value is multiplied in valuation, due to time gain, so that original owner makes considerable profit
In that case, who would bother about safety & stability
All promoters know this aspect & therefore they include only minimum requirement at cost of maximum sale price
Unfortunately, now properties values are down due to various political & economical reasons, otherwise, lakhs crore/s of incomplete apartments are ready, waiting for disposal
Most users do not understand structure & even if, do would not spend required sum to produce a good structure
In US people bother about safety & do not spend sums for considerable capital gains only

[MANOJ MITTAL]

Excellent write up

Sent from my iPhone

On 21-Feb-2016, at 3:50 PM, suraj <forum@sefindia.org (forum@sefindia.org)> wrote:

[B.V.Harsoda]

Respected Dr. N. Subramanian Sir & Suraj Sir,
  Lot of  thanks for your excellent words describing present real fact of structural safety which we  all are facing today but it is very difficult  to improve immediately. This e-conference is the first step toward the solution.
I hope we will be success.

Warm Regards,
B. V. Harsoda