Man arrested in case of alleged impersonation

Jen Lawson

Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

Metro Police arrested a man Wednesday whom they say posed as a deputy district attorney and promised people he would get their loved ones out of jail in exchange for a fee.

Lt. Steve Franks of Metro's fraud and forgery units said Jorge Sanchez would attend court hearings as a spectator and approach people whose relatives are in jail.

"He pops up and says, 'Let me introduce myself,' " Franks said.

In one case, Sanchez allegedly charged a man named Jose Zozaya $1,000 for documents that purportedly would have freed him from jail, but the paperwork was phony.

Zozaya showed up at the Clark County Detention Center with the fake documents showing forged signatures of deputy district attorneys and a district court judge, Franks said. Zozaya told authorities he got the paperwork from Sanchez.

Police began investigating and found that Sanchez had visited two different inmates at the detention center recently, telling jail officials he was a law student at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

On his second visit, a corrections officer recognized Sanchez as a former inmate and doubted that he is a lawyer or law student.

He is being held in the detention center on charges of theft and practicing law without a license.

Franks he said the ploy isn't unusual -- he said they've heard rumblings about such scams in the past -- but it's difficult to gauge how often it happens because victims are often embarassed and don't file police reports.

"We're hoping more victims will come forward," Franks said.

Anyone with information on Sanchez is asked to call the forgery unit at 229-3483.