Latinos Warned of Fake Lawyers; D.A. Informed

Alarmed over growing fraud by Spanish-speaking charlatans posing as legal consultants, a group of activists and lawyers has quietly launched a campaign of public education and is seeking a crackdown by law enforcement officials.

For the past few months, volunteers have targeted Los Angeles’ Latino population with weekend seminars teaching how to avoid rip-off artists. The activists have taken their concerns 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 Assn. “There is tremendous concern.”

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of unsuspecting residents have lost 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 locally have no legal training and may not legally offer advice on divorce, bankruptcy, business disputes or immigration matters in the United States.

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 Assn., which supplies brochures in both English and Spanish that explain the role of a notary.

The bar may eventually resort to a television advertising campaign explaining the dos and don’ts for obtaining legal help, several members said.

Many times the culprits operate from storefronts geared toward attracting Spanish-speaking residents. They often boldly promise help on legal matters.

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

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

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

Lawyers and others who frequently hear sad 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 of them are struggling to keep from being deported from the United States, he said.

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

“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 MABA’s immigration committee.

Indeed, several lawyers said clients frequently turn to them to late. Because they have relied on someone who was not trustworthy, many times they have missed key dates for filing documents or making appearances before authorities and, as a result, deportation has become a virtual certainty.

Cristina Perez, a Los Angeles lawyer who co-chairs MABA’s immigration committee, said she’s seen victims lose $100 and up. For many volunteers, she said, the main focus so far has been to reach people at the grass-roots level.

“Everybody has to go out and do a little. We have to educate these people,” she said. “They don’t ask, ‘Do you have a bar license?’ ”

Jose Colon, a Montebello lawyer, said he saw a wide range of cases when he served as a judge pro tem at a courthouse in East Los Angeles.

Colon remembered one man who was in small claims court trying to recover $3,500 from a notary who pretended to act as a lawyer in handling an eviction proceeding.

“Those are the ones who are basically practicing law without a license,” Colon said. “They’ll take the money and do a disservice.”

Carol Eisman, a spokeswoman for the National Notary Assn., said there are close to 140,000 notaries in California, and about 40,000 of them are in Los Angeles County.

Eisman said the nonprofit group has spent years fighting fraud. Relatively few notaries have become involved in illegal activities, but many others posing as notaries have taken advantage of naive or confused people, 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 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.”

Several activists said that whether the latest effort to deal with an old problem is successful remains anybody’s guess. The effort is worthwhile, but the challenge of spreading the word as newcomers continue to pour into the region may be overwhelming, they said.

“A lot of people in the community get ripped off,” said Luis A. Carrillo, a Montebello lawyer and a bar association trustee. “Those who don’t have [residency] papers have a big, big, big concern.”