Vegas lawyer pleads guilty to minor charge in false records case

A defense lawyer charged with submitting fraudulent guilty plea agreements for a client pleaded guilty Monday to a less serious charge.

Stephen Stubbs, 38, entered a guilty plea in District Court to a gross misdemeanor charge of unlawful notarization of a signature by a notary public.

He is to be sentenced by District Judge Elissa Cadish on Oct. 12 and faces up to 364 days behind bars. He also is eligible for probation.

Felony charges of offering a false instrument for filing or record were dismissed as part of his plea agreement with prosecutors.

Stubbs, who is a notary, admitted misunderstanding the law regarding the notarization of signatures and did not intend to mislead anyone, his lawyer, Damian Sheets, has said.

The charges stem from two DUI cases — one in Las Vegas Justice Court and one in Las Vegas Municipal Court — against Stubbs client James L. Green.

Last year, Green told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the signature on the plea agreement filed in Justice Court was not his.

Stubbs was alleged to have unlawfully notarized the two "written entry of plea" agreements with Green's signature before filing them in 2013. Written guilty pleas are usually filed in court if the defendant lives out of state or is too ill to make a court appearance.

The investigation became public after detectives with the intelligence section of the Metropolitan Police Department raided Stubbs' Las Vegas and Boulder City offices on Oct. 29.

Stubbs attracted media attention in 2012 when he filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging Southern Nevada law enforcement agencies were harassing motorcycle clubs. He detailed six encounters with authorities between June 2010 and September 2011 that he alleged violated the constitutional rights of the clubs.

Stubbs subsequently has had several other local court battles with police.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@review-journal.com or 702-380-8135. Follow @JGermanRJ on Twitter.