Notary Public Charged with Offering Immigration Services that Were Never Rendered
The El Paso County Attorney José
Rodríguez has filed criminal charges against a Socorro notary public alleging
she conducted deceptive business practices.
Patricia Puentes Monroy, owner of "M
N Business Management" located at 1113 Horizon Blvd., is being charged with 3 counts of Deceptive Trade Practice,
a Class ‘A' misdemeanor, punishable by up to 1 year in jail and/or a $4,000
dollar fine.
Honorable
Judge Robert Anchondo has issued summons in each charge and set Puentes
Monroy's arraignment for August
10th, 2006 at 8:30
AM in the County
Criminal Court at Law # 2
The criminal
complaints filed allege that, on or about September 7, 2005, Puentes Monroy received more
than $2,000 to process the immigration applications for 3 residents of East El Paso, but the services were never provided.
El Paso
County Attorney José Rodríguez says that unfortunately this type of crime occurs
often in the borderland, and in many cases, it goes unreported because the
victims are generally undocumented immigrants or residents of Mexico that don't
know the function of a notary public in the United States is very different
from the function they have in Latin America countries.
"In Texas, public notaries are
only authorized to witness the signing of legal documents; they do not
necessarily have specialized legal training, and are not allowed to offer
immigration services", said County Attorney José Rodríguez.
We
encourage anyone who might feel has been a victim of an unscrupulous notary
public, to come forward and file a complaint at our office located at 500 E.
San Antonio Suite 503, or for additional information to call the El Paso County
Attorney's Office Deceptive Business Practices Unit at 546-2050.
Anyone
who feels they have been the victim of the crime of "Deceptive Trade Practice"
may file a police report by calling the El Paso Police Department at (915)
564-7000.
- 30 -
For those interested members of the media, County Attorney
José Rodríguez will be available for interviews today between 11 AM and 12 PM at his office downtown. Please confirm if
you are interested in talking to him or call to make further arrangements. A
mug shot will be sent later today.
Notary Public Charged.pdf
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