Scavo faces forgery charge

I thought you’d find this article interesting because many people have a landlord and many people are landlords themselves. Albany’s process of eviction is different in all 50 states of America and probably different in Canada and the rest of the world. I was recently called to testify in an eviction case here in Southern California and I noticed that the judges and both attorneys all knew each other by first name. It was quite a cattle call of fast and quick turnarounds to kick people out of their homes. One attorney represents the landlords. One attorney represents only tenants.

ALBANY — City police have filed a felony forgery complaint against County Legislator Brian Scavo, alleging the 7th District Democrat faked a tenant’s signature on an eviction document.
In an interview, Scavo — who has faced charges two other times since his 2007 election — called the forgery accusation baseless and said his accuser has a checkered past.
The complaint alleges Scavo, 57, forged the name of a tenant in his 7 Barclay St. building, Patrick Mason, on an affidavit of service, a sworn document meant as proof that court papers were served on a party in a civil case.
In this case, according to the charging documents, the affidavit swore to the fact Mason had served eviction papers for Scavo on another tenant in the building, Robert Allen, on Sept. 25, 2009. Scavo could not legally serve the papers himself because he is part of the civil action.
Five days later, Allen returned home to his apartment to find an eviction order on his door despite knowing nothing about the proceeding, he told a detective in a sworn statement.
When Allen went to City Court to inquire about the order, according to his account, he was told that he had been served with the eviction paperwork by Mason.
Allen told a detective he then went back to his apartment and asked his roommate who Mason was. His roommate told him Mason lived in a downstairs apartment, and when Allen confronted Mason, Mason told him “he didn’t know anything about the paperwork.”
Mason himself told the same detective in a sworn statement that he had never served Allen with anything and denied that it was his signature on the affidavit.
“A few days later,” Mason said in his statement, “Brian Scavo came to me and told me that he had used my name on some paperwork and it was obvious that Brian wanted me to say that I had served Rob and signed the paperwork when I had not.”
Mason filed an incident report with police on Oct. 14 of that year, and both men’s statements to police — as well as the statement of a City Court clerk, Richard Pastore — are dated early November 2009.
It was not immediately clear why police did not file the charge with the city’s criminal court until Dec. 30, 2010, a full 13 months later. Neither Mason nor Allen could be reached for comment on Wednesday.
“That is a good question,” said E. David Duncan, Scavo’s attorney, who said he can produce sworn statements from three people — one of them being Scavo — who say they saw Mason serve the paperwork on Allen.
“We collectively feel the thing is an outrage,” Duncan said, adding that Scavo believes Mason sought to file charges because Scavo also later asked Mason to leave the building. “It came from hard feelings,” Duncan said, “and it’s just an outrage.”
Scavo went further, saying police never fully investigated the case because they never interviewed the commissioner of deeds who, according to the affidavit, witnessed Mason’s signature.
“I don’t know what his motivation is: Either he’s criminally stupid or it’s politically motivated,” Scavo said of Mason. “This eviction was above board and straight and honest.”
Scavo was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday morning on a charge of second-degree forgery, but the proceeding was adjourned a week at Duncan’s request, he said, so that he could prepare Scavo’s defense.
Second-degree forgery is a D felony that could carry up to seven years in prison — though it would likely be considerably less for someone without a prior conviction. A felony conviction, however, would automatically cost Scavo his elected position representing neighborhoods around Whitehall Road and New Scotland and Delaware avenues.
Scavo, who has said he plans to seek a second term this year, already faces a primary challenge from fellow Democrat Noelle Kinsch.
The forgery charge is just the latest controversy surrounding Scavo during his first term, the last coming just two months ago when one of his colleagues, Legislator Wanda Willingham, accused him of making a racially insensitive remark about her on the Times Union’s Local Politics blog.
Scavo, who is white, said the comment was taken out of context and was not directed at Willingham, who is black.
In January 2008, just weeks after taking office, Scavo faced a misdemeanor stalking charge based on the allegations of a then-25-year-old Albany Law School student who accused him of relentlessly pursuing her in the neighborhood. That case eventually moved to Colonie Town Court, where a judge dismissed the case on the grounds that police did not formally allege enough incidents to meet the legal definition of stalking.
In June 2008, Scavo was charged with second-degree harassment, a violation, after an alleged scuffle with one of his tenants. The tenant was charged but the cases against both men were dismissed.
Reach Jordan Carleo-Evangelist at 454-5445 or jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com

Tags: forgery charges, Scavo

By Assistant Editor in News on February 12, 2011