Posted by Donna LaBelle on 6/16/08 5:59pm
Msg #251541

here are a couple of things to ponder

It sure is a good thing that your backround isn't lowered each time someone runs it , like a credit score is each time someone runs that!

I was talking to someone who said she used to be a notary and now she is a real estate agent, but she told me that the FBI requested a journal entry from her in a mortgage fraud investigation and she called the SOS and she claims that they told her to just turn the entire journal over to the FBI which she did, and then she said that was a while back and she has never received her journal back from the FBI

Reply by Elaine Sedlock on 6/16/08 6:31pm
Msg #251548

Yikes! Has she contacted the "FBI" to try and recover her journal?

Reply by jba/fl on 6/16/08 6:41pm
Msg #251550

she would prob. get lost in gov't morass of red tape unless

she had name of who. Should have given photocopy of page or made them take photocopy of page. Wonder if SOS was thinking that day.

Reply by Susan Fischer on 6/16/08 11:01pm
Msg #251583

No subpoena, no journal. Chain of Custody issue. Also,

privacy issue. Also, personal responsibility issue. Plus Oregon law issue. Just off the top of my head.

Reply by Annette_CA on 6/17/08 12:43am
Msg #251596

Re: No subpoena, no journal. Chain of Custody issue. Also,

She should have been given a receipt by the FBI, she can track it through the receipt.

Reply by John_NorCal on 6/17/08 12:57am
Msg #251597

Re: No subpoena, no journal. Chain of Custody issue. Also,

First thing I learned when I was in law enforcement was that you never, ever turned your notes (in this case the journal) over to detectives. She should have made a copy of the entry for them.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 6/17/08 2:50am
Msg #251602

Re: No subpoena, no journal. Chain of Custody issue. Also,

'Course, now as of the first of the year, we have the new requirement that if a peace officer investigating a crime has probable cause that our journal has information about a criminal offense, that we have to turn it over immediately, or as soon as possible. (We should, however, insist on getting a receipt.) Failure to do so is also now grounds for suspension or revocation of notary commission.

Reply by Carole Breckbill on 6/17/08 7:38am
Msg #251609

Only in CA or throughout the US? n/m

Reply by Gerry_VT on 6/17/08 9:51am
Msg #251621

turning over journal in CA

It would be interesting to see what would happen if a police officer demanded a California notary's journal, and the notary replied "Certainly, officer. However, since my journal must be sequential, and since I need to use a journal this afternoon, I won't be able to make any more entries in the journal I'm giving you. It cost $8, and I've only used have of it, so before I give it to you, you must pay me $4 for the unused part."

Reply by John_NorCal on 6/17/08 10:49am
Msg #251633

Good point Janet....... Here's the applicable code section

Government code 8206

(d) The journal of notarial acts of a notary public is the
exclusive property of that notary public, and shall not be
surrendered to an employer upon termination of employment, whether or
not the employer paid for the journal, or at any other time. The
notary public shall not surrender the journal to any other person,
except the county clerk, pursuant to Section 8209, or immediately, or
if the journal is not present then as soon as possible, upon request
to a peace officer investigating a criminal offense who has
reasonable suspicion to believe the journal contains evidence of a
criminal offense, as defined in Sections 830.1, 830.2, and 830.3 of
the Penal Code, acting in his or her official capacity and within his
or her authority. If the peace officer seizes the notary journal, he
or she must have probable cause as required by the laws of this
state and the United States. A peace officer or law enforcement
agency that seizes a notary journal shall notify the Secretary of
State by facsimile within 24 hours, or as soon possible thereafter,
of the name of the notary public whose journal has been seized. The
notary public shall obtain a receipt for the journal, and shall
notify the Secretary of State by certified mail within 10 days that
the journal was relinquished to a peace officer. The notification
shall include the period of the journal entries, the commission
number of the notary public, the expiration date of the commission,
and a photocopy of the receipt. The notary public shall obtain a new
sequential journal. If the journal relinquished to a peace officer is
returned to the notary public and a new journal has been obtained,
the notary public shall make no new entries in the returned journal.