Fidelity National Title in Santa Rosa, California, was handling a sale where the chain of title revealed an uninsured deed. The title report called for an uninsured deed affidavit.

Fidelity contacted the seller for additional information. Turns out the previous owner, Wendy Storm, deeded the property to her sister, April Showers. This property was being sold to a Limited Liability Company (LLC) controlled by Storm's husband who was applying for a loan through a private money lender.

The seller was unable to come in for closing so the office set up an order with a mobile signing company. The notary met with Showers who presented a California Driver's License as her identification. The license was expired, but per state law, the notary can rely on the I.D. as a means to identify the signer if it was issued within the last five years. State law says:

• Identification Documents — The notary public can establish the identity of the signer using identification documents…provided it is current or was issued within five years:


• An identification card or driver's license issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles;
• A United States passport;
• An inmate identification card issued by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the inmate is in custody in California state prison;
• Any form of inmate identification issued by a sheriff's department, if the inmate is in custody in a local detention facility.

The notary took a copy of the driver's license and hand wrote, "The seller's driver's license is expired, but issued within the five year period. Therefore, under California law is acceptable." and he signed his name. The documents were signed and acknowledged and sent back to Fidelity National Title.

Amy Meiers, Escrow Assistant, received the signed documents and reviewed them to ensure nothing was missed. She noticed the copy of the identification and handwritten note from the notary but it did not seem right to her.

The copy provided by the notary was a color copy. Amy noticed the color of the I.D. was yellow, but it seemed too yellow and the license was the previous version issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. She reviewed the identification closer and realized the seller's address was misspelled.

Amy investigated further and discovered the "old" version of the driver's license, which is the version she was looking at stopped being issued in 2010 yet the issue date on the copy in front of her was 2012. She was convinced something was not right. Amy reported her findings to Escrow Officer Katie Kingsbury, who contacted the mobile signing company, Bancserv.

Sherri Bird, Senior Vice President and Manager for Bancserv, reviewed everything. She noticed when Fidelity placed the order for signing services they asked for this notary by name, stating he was familiar with the Showers because he had acknowledged Storm's signature before. Sherri did a search in her system for a transaction in which Storm was the signer. She found one from 2012.

Sherri's notes indicated the signing was cancelled because Storm did not have proper identification. Storm claimed she lost her purse but had her naturalization papers from 1984 with her and asked the notary to accept them. They did have a photograph, signature, date of birth and physical description on them, yet the notary declined to acknowledge her signature.

The Fidelity office and Bancserv decided to give it one more try by sending out a different notary to have the seller re–sign. Katie and Sherri were very vague with the signer as to why the documents had to be re–signed in hopes they would be able to get to the bottom of the issue and find out what was really going on.

The new notary was armed with copies of the identification presented and the naturalization documents previously presented by Storm. The signing appointment was scheduled at a public place. The notary arrived early and was confused when Storm walked through the door, not Showers.

The notary asked Storm where her sister was. Storm told the notary she was Showers AND Storm. This was not a surprise to the notary since the pictures on the documents she had reviewed looked very similar.

The notary asked Storm if she signed documents using Showers' identification yesterday and Storm confessed she had, which is exactly what Sherri suspected. Remember the cancelled signing from 2012? The driver's license Showers presented to the notary was issued on the exact same date the signing was cancelled back in 2012. Storm admitted she obtained the I.D. for Showers at a flea market.

The lender later told Katie, Storm said Showers was in Fiji. Amy also noticed the date of birth provided by Storm and Showers was exactly the same. The sales price for this transaction was $87,000 and the new loan amount was $114,000.

Amy is a rock star for detecting the forgery. She is being rewarded $1,500 for saving the Company from a potential claim.