Lawyers Group Seeks Crackdown on Rip-Offs Against Latinos

Alarmed over growing fraud by unscrupulous Spanish-speaking legal consultants, a group of activists and lawyers have launched a campaign of public education and are seeking a crackdown by law enforcement officials.

For the past few months, volunteers have targeted Los Angeles’ Latino population with weekend seminars teaching them how to avoid rip-off artists. Concerns have been brought to the district attorney’s office.

“It’s a problem that’s gotten out of hand,” said Edgardo Quintanilla, a Sherman Oaks lawyer and a member of the Mexican American Bar Association. “There is tremendous concern.”

Uninformed or wrong advice can lead to missing important court dates or improperly filling out key documents.

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Several lawyers said clients who had previously relied on someone who was not trustworthy missed key dates for filing documents or making appearances before authorities and as a result, deportation has become a virtual certainty.

Hundreds of unsuspecting residents have lost large amounts of money because they relied on the wrong people to handle their legal matters, activists said.

The lawyers group has been particularly concerned with high-priced schemers who present themselves as notario publicos. The term refers to a “legal expert” in Latin America, but many who use it here have no legal training and may not legally offer advice on divorce, bankruptcy, business disputes or immigration matters.

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The Spanish term is even more misleading because many are not licensed to operate as notary publics, who are authorized by law to witness, but not prepare, most legal documents.

So far, cooperation on the education front has come from several groups, including the Chatsworth-based National Notary Association, which supplies brochures explaining the role of a notary and the distinctions between English and Spanish.

In some cases, officials said, the scammers are notaries pretending to be lawyers. Other times they are not even notaries.

The allegations are under review, said Thomas A. Papageorge, head deputy district attorney in charge of the consumer protection division.

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“We are looking into those problems now,” said Papageorge, who declined to elaborate.

Lawyers and others who have seen tales of deceit say something needs to be done immediately.

Quintanilla told of two sisters who turned to him for help after being misled by a Van Nuys man who charged them $1,000 and assured them he would take care of their need for work and residency documents.

One sister was deported in absentia because she followed the man’s advice and did not show up for immigration court, and now both are struggling to keep from being deported, he said.

The young women had come to the country illegally as girls but finally realized that they needed proper documentation in order to work or go to college, he said.

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“They said, ‘We want to take care of our immigration situation.’ He said, ‘OK,’ ” Quintanilla said of the man. “Later on they realized that he had filled out [the wrong forms].”

Victims often lose their money and have no recourse, said Quintanilla, who co-chairs the Mexican American Bar Association’s immigration committee.

Carol Eisman, a spokeswoman for the National Notary Association, said the nonprofit group has spent years trying to curb fraud. A relatively few notaries have become involved in illegal activities, but many others posing as notaries have taken advantage of naive or confused victims, she said.

The brochure provided by the association explains that a notary is appointed to witness the signing of important documents, but is forbidden from preparing legal documents unless he or she also is an attorney.

“We’re most familiar with the notario publicos,” Eisman said. “They portray themselves as notary publics. They’re not authorized to do that. . . . It’s a huge problem.”