By Lauren Lifke
A Moriarty woman was charged with forgery after she allegedly fabricated a medical excuse letter to avoid being evicted from her home, according to a criminal complaint.
On Aug. 29, police officers and community service aides showed up to the woman’s home to execute a court-ordered eviction and nobody was there, though her belongings and dogs were, according to the complaint.
She arrived about 30 minutes later and told officers that she had just filed a motion to stay the eviction because she was receiving medical treatment for a severe kidney infection, according to the complaint. She showed a handwritten motion and a note from a certified physician assistant at Presbyterian Healthcare Services, according to the complaint.
Two hours later, the magistrate court manager told an officer that the court had received a motion from the woman regarding her eviction, and that the court was suspicious of the attached medical excuse note.
In the note, the hospital was spelled as “Presbyterian Caseman Hospital” — instead of the accurate Presbyterian Kaseman Hospital, according to the complaint.
The officer called the doctor whose name was listed in the note. He told the officer that the note was forged and that he had never seen or treated the woman who submitted it to the court as her medical excuse note.
She made a first appearance in court on Sept. 29, after which she was released from jail. The next hearing will take place on Oct. 22
