Posted by Anon22 on 8/11/05 3:14pm
Msg #58367
Did u read this about a FL Notary who broke the law?
Go here for the article and a picture:
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20050811&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=508110433
If you want to read here....... the article reads:
Notary fired for role in scam
By MIKE HOYEM
[e-mail address]
Published by news-press.com on August 11, 2005
Palm Beach County's tax collector has fired a supervisor who notarized deeds filed in Lee County with the forged signatures of dead property owners.
Diana K. Jury, 45, of West Palm Beach was terminated Monday, four days after The News-Press notified Palm Beach County Tax Collector John K. Clark of Jury's involvement in the deed scam that's hit Southwest Florida.
Records show Jury — who was a supervisor in the tax collector's Lake Worth office — notarized 27 deeds filed in 2003 and 2004 that transferred vacant lots to JBA Assets, Saul Jakubowicz and Jack Levinson.
Jury told The News-Press in mid-February she sometimes notarized documents for JBA Assets owner Jacob Ben-Ari of Delray Beach but said she always required people signing the deeds to show identification.
Many of the deeds Jury notarized included forged signatures of property owners who died years before they supposedly could have signed their names.
Clark said when Jury was confronted with the evidence against her, she acknowledged wrongdoing.
"She admitted she had notarized some documents without proper identification," Clark said. "We don't do deeds, so she had no business doing it anyway. She was wrong on both counts. She is now an ex-employee."
Since mid-February, The News-Press has identified seven companies and individuals who have filed scores of forged deeds in Lee and Charlotte counties.
Scam artists trying to capitalize on the area's booming property values appear to be focusing on vacant lots with overdue taxes and finding that many of the owners are dead.
The FBI is investigating, but so far no arrests or indictments have been announced.
Under Florida law, a notary public who knowingly misuses a notary seal can be subject to permanent revocation of his or her commission.
Clark said the law doesn't allow him to do anything about Jury's commission.
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Reply by Nancy in Florida on 8/11/05 9:09pm
Msg #58448
Re: Sorry... the picture is not the unethical notary from FL n/m
I live in Lee County and it doesn't surprise me at all, we have so many scams going on with properties. We have Realtors contacting out of state property owners offering them $2000 for their property that is actually worth $75,000! Many of these are dead property owners and they are contacting their heirs, many which who do not know the value of property in Lee County and how it has skyrocketed in the past several years. However what they are doing is not illegal (unethical but not illegal) a few of these cases have gone to court and the judges have always sided with the realtor (buyers) saying that the transaction was legal. I guess buyer beware or rather seller beware should be the motto. My cousin visits with some friends a few weeks ago and her one friend said her father (who lives in NY) was contacted to sell his property in Lee County and they were offering him peanuts compared to what it was worth. When I told her the est. value she called her father and told him not to do anything with the property until she got home. He was actually thinking of selling it.
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