Forging Notary seals is a serious crime that warrants an “enhanced” prison sentence, according to a federal appeals court ruling issued last week.
In upholding the 10-year prison sentence of a Glendale man who pled guilty to helping orchestrate a $5.4 million mortgage fraud scheme, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Notary seal is an “authentication feature” used to determine if a “document is counterfeit, altered, or otherwise falsified.” As such, it qualifies as a sentencing enhancement under federal guidelines.
Henrik Sardariani was given a substantially longer sentence than his co-conspirators because he admitted to creating bogus property records that included “forged and fraudulent signatures and seals of Notaries,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
One co-conspirator was given a 6½-year sentence, and another was sentenced to four years in prison.
Sardariani appealed his sentence, arguing that authentication features only apply to identification documents issued by government agencies. As such, a Notary seal was not an authentication feature.
However, the court noted that seals are used to authenticate signatures, which federal law considers a means of identification. And Sardariani used the forged seals and Notary signatures to trick county recorders offices into believing the fake documents were genuine.
Michael Lewis is Managing Editor of member publications for the National Notary Association.
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Michael Lewis is Managing Editor of member publications for the National Notary Association.