Forensic Handwriting & Signature Analysis | Forensic Forgery Detection | Nationwide

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Little did Anne Smith know, when she forged her mother’s handwriting and signatures on high school absentee excuses (until she got caught!), that examining questioned documents and providing opinions about handwriting and signature authorship would become her second career.

Fast forward…Anne graduated from Campbell College, now University, with a B.S. in General Sciences with minors in Secondary Education and Home Economics, now Family and Consumer Sciences. She furthered her education by undertaking graduate studies towards a M.S. degree at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Her areas of emphasis included Food Business Management and Market Research and Analysis.

Little did Anne Smith know, when she forged her mother’s handwriting and signatures on a high school absentee excuses (until she got caught!), that examining questioned documents and providing opinions about handwriting and signature authorship would become her second career.

Having been in the foodservice industry since she was 16, Anne continued an upwardly progressive management career in the business dining foodservice segment. She became tenured as corporate dining services director at a Fortune 500 company. Her last business dining position was as director of dining services at a major drug manufacturing facility.

A couple of statistics Anne remembered from graduate school days were that by the year 2011, tens of thousands of Baby Boomers in the US would begin turn 65 every day for the next 18 years and Baby Boomers would hold half of the US wealth. So when Anne learned about a career as a questioned document examiner (QDE), a specialized segment of forensic science, she recognized there would be real demand for document examination and handwriting identification services specifically regarding forged signatures on wills and related estate documents.

Since completing a two-year apprenticeship/mentor forensic document examination training course in 2006, Anne stays current in her field and continues to amassed more than 511 hours of continuing education in forensic document examination and handwriting identification and signature verification techniques. Included are specialized Photoshop techniques to examine and compare digital image (JPEG/TIFF) signatures in alleged forged signature cases. Photoshop and other software programs are used to assess digital document images (PDFs) to opine whether or not sections of documents and/or signatures have been digitally manipulated (i.e. cut/copy-and-pasted).

Using unique PDF conversion techniques, bank statements, checks and credit card statements, can be combined in spreadsheets, which are used to analyze spending patterns. Color-coded spreadsheets in reports and court exhibits relate various levels of opinions about the authenticity of numerous questioned signatures.

Thus, the tag lines FFD uses are: “Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen.” from “Pretty Boy Floyd” by Woodie Guthrie” (used with permission, of course) and “However, detecting fraudulent documents may involve more than just examining handwriting.”

Clients are provided with comprehensive scientific-based examination techniques and well written, detailed, illustrated opinion reports, complete with supporting evidence from FFD's personal professional reference library. Retaining attorneys often relate these reports help them settle out of court. Anne credits the Secondary Education courses at Campbell for teaching the skills needed to design and use visual aids used in reports and court exhibits, when needed. She relates, “A picture is worth a thousand words in reports and when using PowerPoint presentations in court to illustrate significantly similar or significantly different handwriting characteristics and evidence of digital manipulation.”

Two brochures, which she designed, are used as handouts and in mailings to potential attorney clients. The titles are “Why having ORIGINAL WET-INK DOCUMENTS is important for Handwriting Identification” and “Detecting Fraudulent Documents May Involve More Than Just Handwriting…” Contact FFD if you would like a PDF version emailed to you.

While Anne is available to work nationwide, she primarily works from FFD's main office and examination facility in Virgilina, VA. Believe it or not, Virgilina is centrally located and is about four hours from many NC, VA and WV mountain ranges and several NC, VA and SC beaches, as well as Northern VA and Washington, DC. When documents cannot be released into FFD's custody, Anne travels and uses digital photography, digital microscopy, and portable digital image scanners to collect “on location” evidence.

To date, thousands of documents in hundreds of cases for plaintiff and defense attorneys, corporations and individuals have been examined by FFD. The questioned and comparison/exemplar signatures and handwriting plus other types of document examinations have been from14 other states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Trinidad.

Anne remains an active participant in the Scientific Association of Forensic Scientists (SAFE) and has served on National Association of Document Examiners (NADE) journal peer-review committee and as a chair of the bylaws committee. Always on the look out for presenters for association professional conferences, “Presidential Signatures-Autopen or Not?” and “Autographs, Auctions & Answers” were topics presented by one speaker Anne garnered when she co-chaired the 2013 NADE conference.

Anne enjoys speaking to civic groups and has presented at NADE and SAFE international conferences. Her topics have included: Inverted Mirror Writing; Overt & Covert Features of Paper and Ending the ‘Paper Weight’ Confusion; To Stamp or Not to Stamp: How Notary Public Law Changes May Affect Document Examination; Death Certificate Fraud; Statistics and the Document Examiner; Brain Teasers, a.k.a. Handwriting Verification, Skill and Proficiency Testing; and Best Practices for Documenting Image Enhancement (i.e., digital document manipulation a.k.a. cut/copy-and-paste).

Although Anne never taught in a classroom, her Secondary Education classes prepared her to teach/train others throughout both her careers. Based on an American Institute of Applied Science course she completed, Anne developed and taught eight classes about Practical Applications of Factors Underlying Handwritten, Handprinted, and Typewritten Document Identification.

And what about the other areas of forensic document examination not involving handwriting?

Other types of document examinations cases have involved indented writing, obliterated writing, alterations, erasures, faded writing, page substitutions, different office equipment identification, varied typist’s habits, font differences and evidence of digital manipulation (i.e., cut/copy-and-paste), which is becoming more and more prevalent.

Contact FFD today for Anne's current Fee Schedule and CV, which includes court-qualifications, proficiency testing, varied types of documents examined, and equipment which may be employed.

When she’s not working, Anne enjoys ‘testing’ her recipe creations on unsuspecting friends and relatives. She frequently receives requests to prepare her Champagne Soup with Cinnamon Croutons for their very special occasions.