Probe to Focus on how Felon Became Notary, Process Server

Vilisia Coleman is a felon, but that didn't stop the second suspect arrested in a growing Clark County court scandal from becoming a state-approved notary public and unlicensed process server.

State regulators are investigating how Coleman slipped under the radar.

Coleman, 46, who police say was a process server and office manager for On Scene Mediations, the unlicensed company at the center of the scandal, was sentenced to three years of probation for felony cocaine possession in 2006 and ordered to undergo drug treatment, records show.

She also has a gross misdemeanor conviction for attempted grand larceny at a local Walmart in 2001, records show.

In that case, she was charged with violating her two-year probation in 2003 and ordered to spend eight months behind bars at the Clark County Detention Center.

Coleman, back in custody Tuesday, is now charged in what authorities call a sweeping scheme to file false court affidavits that allowed payday loan and debt collection companies to get default judgments in Las Vegas Justice Court.

Also charged is Maurice Carroll, 41, a former Las Vegas police officer who owns On Scene Mediations. He is free on $35,000 bond.

Because of her criminal history, Coleman by law cannot receive a notary appointment from the state or be a licensed process server.

But Secretary of State Ross Miller said Coleman obtained a notary appointment from his office in June 2009. When she applied to become a notary, she filled out a form that asked if she had ever been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude. She checked the "No" box, said Miller, who has ordered an investigation.

He would not discuss his investigation further but said state agents have spoken with Las Vegas police, who are spearheading the criminal investigation.

Miller said that in November 2009, several months after Coleman received her notary appointment, she reported to Las Vegas police that her notary stamp had been stolen. He said Coleman got a new stamp from his office in January, and the old stamp never surfaced.

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