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Curriculum Vitae

Robert G. Floberg 
Forensic Document Examiner / Handwriting Expert
P. O. Box 1402   Phone: 253.820.1991  email:  robertfloberg@yahoo.com
VAUGHN WA 98394


Background

After seven years in the patrol division, promoted to Detective Sergeant to the fraud and check forgery section of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department (PCSD) in Washington State beginning 1986, retiring in 2006.   Assignment in this unit had given me the unique chance to make an in-depth study of forgery and handwriting cases which I investigated and examined on a daily basis. PCSD had contracted at this time with a nationally known handwriting expert, Robert Phillips, then living in Olympia, Washington, and I began to refer my cases to him in 1987.  Mr. Phillips agreed to supervise me in a mentoring program after I successfully attended the Secret Service course in questioned documents at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy in Glynco, Georgia. Upon completion the United States Secret Service Questioned Document course in February 1991, began the on-going mentorship training with the thirty-five-year veteran document examiner Phillips (see his brief CV and qualifications documented below).  It is generally held that studying with a qualified Forensic Document Examiner for two or more years is the only accepted method in which expert qualifications are attained in this field. After reviewing my work and written opinions for a two year period, Mr. Phillips released me from the training program in 1995 to accept handwriting and document cases on my own and testify as a qualified CR 702 handwriting expert witness without his further review.  It should be noted that Forensic Handwriting Identification is just that: publishing opinions regarding the authorship (identification), or non-authorship (exclusion) of the writing on a questioned document. No assessment of personality, attitude, attributes, sex, gender, or age of the writer is ever rendered in a forensic document examination. 


Qualifications

My qualifications to testify in a court of law as an expert witness are based upon:
(a) successful attendance and completion of the United States Secret Service Questioned Document course at the Glynco, Georgia Federal Training Academy, Feb. 1991, 
(b) successful completion of the two year mentorship training program with Robert C. Phillips (see below), and the purchase and study of the accepted texts recognized in this field, 
(c) the review of 20,000 forged documents during my 20 year assignment with the fraud unit of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, and examination, reporting, and testimony regarding hundreds of handwriting matters between 2006-2021
(d) the rendering of hundreds of opinions in report form that have been verified either by admission of the forger, corroboration via photos, video, fingerprints, or witnesses, or via guilty plea or judicial findings in Superior Courts,  
(e) previous experience and appearances as a prosecution witness in several hundred criminal cases, and  
(f) appearance, duly accepted/qualified by the court, as a recognized handwriting expert witness 71 times in the following listed courts: 

  • United States District Court for Western Washington, March 1995; (identification issue), US Bankruptcy court, Sept 2010
  • United States District Court for Eastern Washington, April 1999; (signature identifications)
  • Bremerton Municipal Court January 2005 (anonymous note identification) 
  • Washington State Administrative hearings (five - 1996, 1999, 2001, 2014, 2015) , Federal Aviation Administration hearing 2004
  • Clark County Superior Court (six) 1995; (Forgery), 1999 (Forgery) 2002 (Murder) March 2004, Aug 2006, Jan 2008 (Murder 1)
  • Snohomish County Superior Court, (12 times - Murder, Burglary, Forgery cases) in 1996-2004
  • Bonner County Idaho District Court (two), Aug. 1996, April 1997 (Murder/Forgery case)
  • Fourth Judicial District Court, County of Ada, Idaho, January 2006 (signature verifications)
  • Pierce County District Court (three cases) (indentification issue, DWI matter, identity victim issue)
  • Thurston County Superior Court, July, 1997 (Murder trial),  Thurston County District Court  Nov. 2008, (civil trial)
  • Mason County Superior Court, Jan 2009 (offer of proof - civil matter)
  • Tacoma Municipal Court, December, 1997 (signature identification) Arbitration hearing (Nov. 2015)
  • Pierce County Superior Court, (eight) Feb. 1998, March 1998 (murder trial) March, April 2005, Oct 2007, Sept 2008, June 2010, March 2021 (TEDRA dispute regarding validity of signature)
  • Kitsap County Superior Court, (five) 2001 (forgery)  2002 (forgery) August 2002 (forgery) March 2003 (bomb threats) 2004 (forgery)
  • Lewis County Superior Court, May 1998 (civil matter, signature identification)
  • King County Superior Court, (seven) September 1998 (signature identification), Feb/Aug 2000 (UIBC) June 2016 (signature verification), January 2020 (TEDRA dispute regarding forgery) March 2021 (contract signature dispute)
  • United States Military Justice Court, Fort Lewis, Washington (court marshall) 1999
  • Chelan County Superior Court, signature authentication (August 2005)
  • State of Washington Personnel Appeals Board (three) April 2001, September 2005, October 2014
  • State of Washington Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals (twice) June and Sept 2014
  • Gray's Harbor County WA Superior Court (signature identifications)  November 2014
  • Depositions:  3/28/18 - Lane Powell Seattle, 11/14/18 - Washington State Attorney General, Olympia WA


Training and Speaking

AA in Criminal Justice (1975) and 2 years of additional study in Police Science at Washington State University, with continuing training in Homicide investigation, financial investigation, money laundering, counterfeiting, and advanced course work in financial manipulation provided by the Internal Revenue Service, Secret Service, and ANACAPA sciences. As a part of my assignment with the fraud unit of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, I reviewed all fraud cases committed in this jurisdiction (population 660,000)  including forged checks, credit card drafts, applications, loan documents, deeds; counterfeit checks, currency, and receipts. I reviewed handwriting matters, forged signatures, and altered documents daily during the course of this assignment. My opinions are verified via subsequent interview, interrogation, confession, and/or peer review. I instructed bank personnel and tellers in my jurisdiction on recognizing forgery, forged signatures, and fraudulent items as part of my assignment. I have also instructed insurance investigators in workshops on the subject of recognizing fraudulent and altered invoices. In April 1998 I attended a refresher course in handwriting identification sponsored by the Northwest Fraud Investigators Association and taught by a Secret Service Instructor.  I have been a member of the Northwest Fraud Investigators Association for 30 years, have also addressed the International Association of Fraud Investigators, PNLTFA, and Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE)  regarding the class characteristics and recognition of Nigerian hand printing and cursive hand writing. I am a past director, Board of Directors of the Pacific Northwest License, Tax, and Fraud Association - pnltfa.com 

Clients

I have contracted with and rendered handwriting opinions for the following agencies: Seattle Police Department, Steilacoom Police, Bonney Lake Police, Puyallup Police, Fife PD, Bremerton PD, Port Orchard PD, Monroe PD, Mount Lake Terrance PD, Mukilteo PD, Olympia PD, Tacoma PD, Stanwood PD, Snohomish PD, Redmond PD, Federal Way PD, Lynnwood PD,  Vancouver PD, Mount Vernon PD, Mukilteo PD, Clark County Prosecutor's Office, Thurston County Prosecutor's Office,  Idaho State Attorney General's Office, United States Secret Service, Pierce County Department of Assigned Council, Snohomish Department of Assigned Council, Pierce County Sheriff's Department and Pierce County Prosecutor's office, Washington State Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Pacific County Assigned Council, Kitsap County Prosecutor's office, United States Postal Inspection Service, Washington State Attorney General's Office, United States Attorney General, USSS, US DOD, FBI, FAA, BATF, various Washington State, California State, Idaho State and several international law firms.


Mentor Information

The Late Mr. Robert Phillips was the Lieutenant in charge of the Oregon State Police crime lab document section up until his retirement in 1974. He had been the recognized handwriting and document expert for the state of Oregon between 1965 to 1974 and during that time trained several examiners that have gone on to successful careers in the forensic document field. Phillips was a member of several professional organizations that certify document examiners and was president of the Northwest Fraud Investigators Assn. in 1971. He was a highly qualified handwriting expert and had testified as an expert witness an unprecedented 1200 times during his employment in the public sector. After retirement, Mr. Phillips then worked as a private document examiner from 1974 to 1996. In March 1996, Mr. Phillips retired a second time after training two additional examiners, Det. Sgt. Robert Floberg (Pierce County Sheriff's Department) and Det. Joe Upton (Lacey PD). During his 22-year private practice, Phillips was involved in over three thousand private civil and criminal cases and testified an additional 100 times in several states and federal courts as an expert handwriting witness. Mr. Phillips passed away in February 2001.