Pa. lawmaker introduces bill toughening penalties for notaries

State Rep. Kevin Boyle (D., Phila.) first heard about Philadelphia's problem with stolen houses before he was elected to the legislature, when he worked for City Councilman William K. Greenlee.

"We became sort of a clearinghouse for citizens in Philadelphia who had their homes stolen from them," Boyle said, remembering in particular an Iraqi war veteran who returned to the city in 2008 or 2009 to learn that while he was away, someone forged papers to transfer his house to another owner.

"From 2000 to 2008, Philadelphia received 454 reports of suspected land fraud," Boyle said. "The more research we did, the more we saw that the penalties in Pennsylvania for notarizing false documents were just too weak."

Notaries are licensed by the state to verify the identities of people who appear before them to sign various legal documents, including deed transfers. Many of the recent house thefts in Philadelphia have involved notaries who failed to demand adequate identification.

"I don't have empirical evidence on this, but I think it's a fair assumption that the notaries are in on this and receiving some sort of windfall," Boyle said. "Right now, that's not even a felony."

Boyle introduced legislation this week to make intentional notarizing of a false deed a third-degree felony, punishable by a fine of $2,500 and up to seven years in prison.

"This is an important issue impacting poor citizens and the elderly," Boyle said. "We need stronger laws to deal with the problem."

One notary dealt with all five of the deed transfers between Leon Pinkney and Dwayne Stewart that the District Attorney's Office has described as fraudulent. Prosecutors did not file charges against the notary but said they were referring the situation to the Pennsylvania Department of State, which licenses and regulates notaries.

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