West Virginia Code § 16-5-38

Penalties
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(a) For acts which occur on or after the effective date of this section, a person shall be guilty
of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned
in a state correctional facility not more than five years, or both fined and imprisoned, if he or
she:
(1) Willfully and knowingly makes any false statement in a report, record or certificate
required to be filed under this article, or in an application for an amendment thereof, or
willfully and knowingly supplies false information intending that the information be used in
the preparation of any report, record or certificate, or amendmeunt thereof, or in an
application for a certified copy of a vital record required by this article; or
(2) Without lawful authority and with the intent to deceive, makes, counterfeits, alters,
amends or mutilates any record, report, or certificate required by this article, or any
certified copy of the record, report or certificate; or
(3) Willfully and knowingly obtains, possessess, uses, sells, furnishes or attempts to obtain,
possess, use, sell or furnish to another, for any purpose of deception, any certificate, record,
report, or certified copy required by this airticle, which was made, counterfeited, altered,
amended, or mutilated, or that is falgse, in whole or in part, or that relates to the birth of
another person, whether living or deceased; or
(4) Is an employee of the section of vital statistics or of any office of any custodian of vital
records, and willfully and knowingly furnishes or processes a certificate of birth, or certified
copy of a certificate of birth, with the knowledge or intention that it be used for the purposes
of deception; or
(5) Without laVwful authority, possesses any certificate, record or report required by this
article or a copy or a certified copy of the certificate, record or report knowing it to have
been stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained.
(b) A person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
more than $1,000, or confined in jail not more than one year, or both fined and confined, if
he or she:
(1) Willfully and knowingly transports or accepts for transportation, interment or other
disposition a dead body without an accompanying permit as provided in this article;
(2) Willfully and knowingly refuses to provide information required by this article or
legislative rules adopted pursuant to this article; or
(3) Willfully and knowingly violates any of the provisions of this article or refuses to perform
any of the duties imposed upon him or her by this article.

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