Process server’s office manager sought in false affidavits case

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure signed an arrest warrant Monday for a second suspect in a sweeping process serving scheme to file false court affidavits.

Vilisia Coleman, the 46-year-old office manager for the process server On Scene Mediations is wanted on felony charges of perjury and offering a false instrument for filing or record, authorities said.

At the center of the scandal is Maurice Carroll, a 41-year-old former Las Vegas police officer who owns On Scene Mediations, which authorities believe has operated without a license since 2003.

Carroll, who has denied wrongdoing through his lawyer, has been charged with filing false affidavits in Las Vegas Justice Court this year. He was booked and released from the Clark County Detention Center on Thursday after posting a $35,000 bond.

A criminal complaint alleges Carroll lied in the affidavits when swearing that he had served defendants with copies of court papers in lawsuits filed by the debt collection agency, Richland Holdings. The affidavits allowed Richland Holdings to obtain default judgments against the defendants after they failed to respond to the lawsuits.

Coleman, who could not be reached for comment, is alleged to have made similar false claims in cases brought by Richland Holdings, according to a police affidavit used to obtain her arrest warrant.

"It appears that Coleman was involved in a criminal conspiracy with Carroll to defraud the courts and the clients of Carroll's illegal business, On Scene Mediations," Detective Nate Chio with the Metropolitan Police Department wrote in the affidavit. "Coleman functioned as the office manager, process server and active participant in the day to day operations of On Scene Mediations."

The charges against Coleman stem from two default judgments Richland Holdings obtained as a result of false affidavits Coleman is alleged to have filed.

In one case, Chio wrote, Coleman swore in an affidavit that she had served Paul and Diana Cardinale with copies of court papers in a lawsuit to collect a $2,148 debt. She maintained that she had served the couple at their home on Dec. 12, 2008.

After learning about the judgment against them, the Cardinales successfully moved to set it aside, alleging they weren't even in Las Vegas when Coleman claimed to have served them, Chio wrote. The couple had flown to Massachusetts four days earlier to be at the side of their son, who was lying in a coma. The son later died.

In the other case, Chio said, Coleman claimed under oath that she had served Alan Wood and his ex-wife, Janet, with copies of court papers in a lawsuit to collect a $1,061 Richland Holdings debt. But both Wood, who disputed even owing the money, and his former wife contended they weren't home when Coleman was supposed to have served them, respectively, on April 4, 2009, and May 20, 2009.

Wood, a Southwest Gas Corp. manager, said last month that he didn't learn of the default judgment in his case until his company started garnisheeing his wages under a court order. Wood hired a lawyer to get the judgment set aside, and now is countersuing Richland Holdings on allegations that it abused the court process.

Kevin Hansen, a lawyer for Richland Holdings, has not responded to calls for comment.

Justice Court officials said last week they plan to ask the county for $60,000 to hire a special hearing master to determine whether false affidavits were filed in thousands of criminal cases, eventually harming the rights of the defendants.

A computer search of court records found that Richland Holdings and the payday loan company Rapid Cash, which also used On Scene Mediations to serve papers, have obtained a total of 19,735 default judgments since January 2004.

Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa, who handles a large share of the court's civil matters, said On Scene Mediations is the only process server the two companies have used in the default cases before her in the past year. Records show Rapid Cash obtained 3,827 default judgments and Richland Holdings 142 during that time, she said.

Saragosa said people who want to know whether they have a judgment against them can go to Justice Court's public website -- www.clarkcountycourts.us. If they want legal advice, they can visit the Civil Law Self Help Center on the first floor of the Regional Justice Center or call a hot line, 868-1136, set up by the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada.

Contact reporter Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135 or read more courts coverage at lvlegalnews.com.