Sometimes clients need an Order signed by a Judge ASAP, and they don’t like to hear that their Order is sitting on the Judge’s desk waiting to be signed. Unfortunately, this happens from time to time. When it does, everyone needs to be patient until the Judge has the opportunity to review the matter and sign the Order.
What do you do when you don’t want to wait for the Judge to finish the task? If your name is Jose Camacho, you might take matters into your own hands. Camacho has just been sentenced to 364 days in jail for forging the signatures of multiple judges.
Why? Camacho ran a very busy law practice, and I guess he didn’t want to wait for the judges to sign off on the documents -- most judges, like busy lawyers, have schedules and other pressing matters, so signatures on Orders may take some time.
In addition to 364 days in jail, Camacho’s sentence includes 10 years of probation.
How did Camacho get caught? Judge Marina Garcia-Wood noticed a document with her signature that was dated while she was out of town. Oops. Needless to say, you can’t forge judge's signatures and get away with it!
