(AP) LAS VEGAS — A notary public found dead at her home after missing sentencing on a misdemeanor charge would have been a key witness against two Southern California title officers accused of orchestrating a massive mortgage foreclosure "robo-signing" fraud scheme, a state prosecutor said Wednesday. Tracy Lawrence, 43, had agreed to testify against Geraldine Ann Sheppard, 62, of Santa Ana, Calif., and Gary Randall Trafford, 49, of Irvine, Calif., in a case alleging that tens of thousands of fraudulent foreclosure documents had been filed in Las Vegas, said John Kelleher, a chief deputy Nevada attorney general.
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Lawrence would have faced up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine Monday after her Nov. 14 guilty plea to a single count of notarizing the signature of a person not in her presence.
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Kelleher said Lawrence received a favorable plea deal after agreeing to cooperate with the prosecution of Sheppard and Trafford. He said Lawrence estimated she fraudulently notarized more than 30,000 documents between 2005 and 2008 by attesting to the validity of signatures of people not in her presence. The documents were then filed with the Clark County recorder's office.
Trafford and Sheppard have not been arrested or appeared in a Nevada court to answer more than 200 felony charges of offering a false instrument and false certification of an instrument, and more than 100 misdemeanor notarization charges in the 439-page indictment handed up against them Nov. 16. They could face decades in prison if convicted.
Kelleher said three other notary witnesses testified before the Clark County District Court grand jury. Their names have not been made public.
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