Posted by Jessica Ward on 6/13/11 7:53pm
Msg #386125

Weird notary story

I don't think that the notary did anything wrong here, though I can't recall the state they were in. I can say, I'd have heartburn about notarizing anything that says "I am lying" in the affidavit. I might have suggested they find themselves another notary.

(If they're lying to someone else, why wouldn't they lie to me?) full story here: http://www.komonews.com/news/va?vaid=fb5a881e625dccca838693db45eb0613

Jessica

Reply by FlaNotary2 on 6/13/11 8:10pm
Msg #386127

I don't see anything strange about it. Under penalties of perjury, the affiant is rightly admitting the things he lied about. As long as he is telling the truth now, standing before the notary, that is what's important.

Reply by HisHughness on 6/13/11 8:30pm
Msg #386129

I think you are missing the point here. He gave the affidavit more than two weeks ago, I assume while the deception was in progress, to establish <in advance> that what he was doing was part of a scheme to show what his ex-wife was capable of. Seems pretty smart to me, if you're going to engage in that sort of scheme.

Reply by MikeC/NY on 6/13/11 9:32pm
Msg #386133

A copy of that affidavit is available here...

http://tinyurl.com/5ugs465

Click on the document image on the left side of the page.

According to the story, it was notarized by a notary at a bank and the FBI interviewed the notary to confirm that this was the real deal. Once that was confirmed, the charges were dropped.

Personally, I would not have had a problem doing the notarization - under NY law, unless I know for a fact that it contains false statements (and I would have no way of knowing that in this case), the contents of the document would not be my concern. It's not the notary's job to investigate the facts being sworn to; the notary is just there to confirm ID and attest to the fact that the statement was made under oath.

Reply by Jessica Ward on 6/15/11 12:11pm
Msg #386339

Thanks all for thoughts, yes, I understand why he did it, and it does seem pretty smart. I'd just be really uncomfortable notarizing that myself. (That's a personal preference thing, I don't think the notary did anything wrong).