18 U.S.C. § 498
Section 498 · Military or naval discharge certificates
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case United States v. Reich (2007)
Most recently applied in United States v. Kenneth Jozwiak (January 2018)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever forges, counterfeits, or falsely alters any certificate of discharge from the military or naval service of the United States, or uses, unlawfully possesses or exhibits any such certificate, knowing the same to be forged, counterfeited, or falsely altered, shall be fined under this title 1 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940, ed., §136 (Mar. 4, 1917, ch. 180, 39 Stat. 1182).
Reference to any person causing, procuring, aiding or assisting was omitted as unnecessary as such persons are made principals by section 2 of this title.
At the end of this section words “in the discretion of the court” were omitted as unnecessary, as the punishment provisions, being framed in the alternative by the use of the disjunctive “or,” vest in the court the power to impose a fine or prison sentence in its discretion.
Changes in phraseology were made.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322, which directed the amendment of this section by substituting “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”, was executed by making the substitution for “fined not more than $1,000”, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.
Canal Zone
Applicability of section to Canal Zone, see section 14 of this title.