In a case that illustrates the need for Notaries and their employers to follow sound notarial practices in the foreclosure process, a Nevada Notary working under the direction of two supervisors at a national mortgage servicing company has pleaded guilty to notarizing a foreclosure document outside the presence of the signer.
The supervisors, who work in Santa Ana, California, have been charged in a 606-count indictment with allegedly running a “massive robo-signing” operation in which they directed several Nevada-based Notary employees to forge and notarize their signatures on documents that were used to initiate hundreds of foreclosures. For nearly five years, Nevada has had the highest foreclosure rate in the country, according to Realtytrac.
While the Notary pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count, her name appears in more than 200 counts of the Clark County Grand Jury indictment. The names of two other Nevada Notaries also appear in the indictment, although they have not been charged.
In a statement, the Nevada Chief Deputy Attorney General John Kelleher noted that the case actually involved “tens of thousands of fraudulent documents” filed with the County recorder’s office from 2005 through 2008.
