LPS Employee---Deposition of Cheryl Thomas March 23 2011

8/3/2019 LPS Employee---Deposition of Cheryl Thomas March 23 2011

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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE NINTH JUDICIAL CIRCUITIN AND FOR ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA

WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.,AS TRUSTEE FOR OPTION ONEMORTGAGE LOAN TRUST 2007-4ASSET-BACKED CERTIFICATES,SERIES 2007-4,

Plaintiffs,vs. Case No.: 2009-CA-007640-0STANLEY W. MARISKOVIC, JR.,ET AL,

Defendants._____________________________ 1

Deposition of CHERYL DENISE THOMAS, held onMarch 23, 2011, at 1755 North Brown Road, Lawrenceville,Georgia, commencing at 9:53 a.m., before Mary Ann Hanham,Court Reporter and Notary Public in and for the State ofGeorgia.


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3C. THOMAS1 INDEX TO EXHIBITS2

3 DESCRIPTION MARKED4

5 Exhibit-A 356 certificate of Appointment of Notary Public,7 consisting of one page8

9 Exhibit-B 391 0 Assignment of Mortgage, Stanley11 consisting of three pages.1 2

13 Exhibit-C 421 4 Assignment of Mortgage, Jason ...1 5 consisting of two pages1 6

1 7 Exhibit-C-2 421 8 Assignment of Mortgage, Jason _.19 consisting of two pages2 0

2 1 Exhibit-C-3 422 2 Assignment of Mortgage, William 2 3 consisting of two pages.2 4

2 5


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4C. THOMAS1 INDEX TO EXHIBITS (CONT' D.)23 DESCRIPTION MARKED4

5 Exhibit-C-4 426 Assignment of Mortgage, Asher7 consisting of two pages8

9 Exhibit-C-5 421 0 Assignment of Mortgage, Leticia 'I11 consisting of two pages1 2

13 Exhibit-C-6 421 4 Assignment of Mortgage, Timothy . R dbIS consisting of two pages1617 Exhibit-C-7 421 8 Assignment of Mortgage, Dillon1 9 consisting of two pages2 0

2 1 Exhibit-C-8 4222 Assignment of Mortgage, steven_2 3 consisting of two pages.2 4

2 5


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5C. THOMASINDEX TO EXHIBITS (CONT'D.)

DESCRIPTION

Exhihit-C-96 Assignment of Mortgage I Brenda

345

7 consisting of two pages.89 Exhihit-C-10

10 Assignment of Mortgage I Jack11 consisting of two pages1213141516171819202122

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MARKED

42

42


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6C. THOMASDEPOSITION OF CHERYL DENISE THOMAS23

MARCH 23, 2011Okay. We're on theR. BLEVINS:

4 record in Wells Fargo Bank versus Stanley5 Mariskovic, 2009-CA-007640, out of Orange6 County, Florida.7 WeIre here with Ms. Cheryl Denise8 Thomas.9 My name is Jonathon Blevins, and I10 represent the Defendant as well as11 MS. SUMACEWSKI: Amy Sumacewski.12 represent Wells Fargo.13 THEREUPON,14 CHERYL DENISE THOMAS,15 having been first duly sworn, was examined16 and testified as follows:17 EXAMINATION18 BY-MR. BLEVINS:19 Okay. Ms. Thomas, we t re here for a.20 depos it ion pertaining to your authority as a21 notary and some other things regarding22 assignments of mortgages in some cases.232425

Have you ever been deposed before?A. Never.

Okay. Basically, the process is I.

I


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c . THOMASI'm going to ask you a few questions about

2 what your involvement is in some certain34

situations.

5 truthful and honest answer, that's a fullAll I ask is that you give me a

7 your head, because it won't come up on the6

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answer. You can't nod your head or shake

reporting. So if you're going to answer,make it audible yes/no. I might ask you tofollow up your answer with a yes/no. I'mreally not trying to be rude. I'm justtrying to make sure the record is clear Iokay.

Plaintiff r S Counsel may object to

16 You'll still have to answer most questions,certain things whiLe we1 re going through.

17 unless it comes to a time where you believe18 you 1 re not going to answer, then we'll take1920

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that up, if that becomes necessary.But really all I'm doing is trying

to ask you some questions about yourinvol vement in some of these cases, and wer 11just go from there I okay?

A. Okay.Q. If my questions are harassing or


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8C. THOMASunclear or if you have an issue with measking questions, just tell me. I'll try to

3 correct the question or ask it in a4 different way, to try to kind of get the5 answer that I r m looking for, or to help you6 better answer your question, okay?78

A. Okay.Q. So with that, can you, please, state

9 your full name?101112

Cheryl Denise Thomas..Q. And where are you currently residing?A. 474 _, that's Lawrenceville,

13 Georgia .-.1415 Thomas?16171819202122 past?232425

A.

A.

Q. Okay. Are you related to Tywanna

A. Yes.Q. In what way are you related?A. I'm her mother.Q. Okay. Are you currently employed?A. No.Q. Okay. Have you been employed in the

Yes.Q. Who were your prior employers?

Wow. I've been here seven years, so


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9C. THOMASjust DOCX. It was LPS. Once they let2 everybody goI they closed the office.

4MS. SUMACEWSKI: Excuse me one

moment. I just would like to make a5 standing obj ection678

MR. BLEVINS: Sure.MS. SUMACEWSKI: as to as so

that I don't continually interrupt.9 obj ecting to the relevancy of this testimony I10 also the fact that the subpoena and the11 Notice of Deposition are on Ms. Thomas in12 her indi vidua.L -capacdty1' not as a corporate13 represen t-atLve of any corporation.1415 have a standing obj ect ion as to relevancy and

So I just would 1ke the record to

16 to the individual capacity of this witness.17 BY-MR.BLEVINS:1819

Q. Okay. Ms. ThomasI before we go any

20 correct I to this?further I too I you did receive the subpoena I

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A. Correct.Q. Did you bring any of the documents

that were listed as part of the subpoena?A. I did. And I also

25 have my notary stamp certificate.I have my ID.


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'98 and

10C. THOMASQ. Okay.23

A. And I also have my tax forms for

4 believe, '08.I'm sorry, '09, '10, and, I

56 please?78

A.

Q. Okay. May I see those documents i

Sure.MS. SUMACEWSKI: Again, I obj ect to

9 the relevancy of these documents.1011

MR. BLEVINS: Thank you.I don't know if we need to can

12 we make copies to put as part of the1314 things?

exhibits, if I ask her questions about those

1516 BY-MR.BLEVINS:

THE COURT REPORTER: (Nodding head.)

17 Q. Okay. Ms. Thomas, you you stated18 before that you were working for DOCX and19 then for LPS I whenever they took over for20 DOCX when it became LPS I correct?212223

A.Q.

your

Correct.Okay. What was your position or

24 were working for DOCX?and your duties as far as when you

25 A. WeIl, I positions.held I


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11C. THOMASdid a lot of different departments. Theydid a lot of lateral moves for me. The

4 rej ect department, when it was upon clos ing,last thing that I was doing was in the

5 that was the last job title that I held, but6 I held different ones.789

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Q. What is the reject department?A. That's when a document might go out

and it has an error on it. And the companywould send it back. And we correct theerror and send it back out again.

Q. What kind of documents are wetalking about?

Any kind of loan documents.. Itcould be, like, a modification. It could be

16 an assignment, just the loan number, the17 amount could be wrong, the spelling of the18 name and address could be wrong, something to19 tha t nature.2021

Q. And when you say 1I10an documents,"

22 documents, are we talking about the actualare we talking about the or modification

2324 about something different?

new mortgages and notes or are we talking

25 A. There were mortgages that came.


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12C. THOMASQ. Okay.

A. And different leases.Q. Where did the the documents

4 originate, do you know?

9 But when they would receive the documents in,10 they would C-date them as to what date it

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1112131415

To my knowledge, they came in the.door. And there was a department that we

They called it wow it'sad also.like I forgot the name of the department.

came in. And we had so many days to getit back out the door. So, to my knowledge,they came out of the door.

Okay. So as far as you know, they.just they came to DOCX, when you were

16 working there, and then you performed your17 duties and then the documents left?1819

A. Correct.Q. So did you have any role in creating

20 any of these documents?2122232425

A. No, not at all.Q. So you never actually input any of

the data that was on the documents, yourrole was to edit them, I guess, or tocorrect errors?


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13C. THOMASA. It wasMS. SUMACEWSKI: Form. Excuse me.

I'm sorry. If I obj ect, I don't mean tointerrupt you, but I have to 'put it on therecord.

Q. I'll fix it.Was your role just to edit the

documents?A. In the rej ect department, it's, more

10 or less, edit, like, maybe the loan amount111213141516171819

whoever did thef it was wrong, whatinput of the documents, if it was wrong asfar as the loan amount or maybe the address Ithat Is the only kind of edi t weIve done,because it would come on they would scana document. So it would come back on ascreen. And we can edit the document likethat, print it back out I and send it.

Q. And then who would advise you as to20 what corrections to make?21 The supervisor would tell us. And.22 we learned different types of codes and232425

different things that you would know how tocorrect it.

Q. Okay. Who was your supervisor?


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1 A.14C. THOMASAt that time. it wasow.

2 _. and then from her, it became Renee3 Gaglione.45

I r m just going to ask you, because.the .. Do you have any

6 relation to789

10111213

A. No, sir.Q. And when you say at the time, what

time are we talking about?months?about?

What years,Can you ballpark what you r re talking

A. Within the within that last year,But then uponwas under

14 the closing, within about five/six months, I15 became more underneath Renee.1617 about?1819

Q. Okay. And what year are we talking

A. 2009.

20 with DOCXat that time?Q. Okay. And how long had you been

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A.

A.

Seven years.Upon the closing?

Q. Yes.Seven years.

Q. Okay. So the supervisor, either


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4 A.

15C. THOMAS...... or Renee Gaglione, wOlJ,~"'.",,\.~2 a~dvis~ you as to what needs to be changed on3 the documents, correct?

well, they would tea- we would5 learn from them how to c


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16C. THOMAS1 didn 't; know" exactly, on the document, what to2 look for, they would either overlook3 something or something to that effect, so if

that would be a reason that something5 would come back, because maybe they6 overlooked something or there was some type7 of oversight on their part.8 And so when we would see it, the9 document, when it comes back, it will

10 actually have a cover sheet on it stating1112 missing in the document, so we would just

what the problem is or maybe something is

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fix that and send it back out.Q. Well, how would you know what you

15 were looking for?16171819202122

23

A. I knew personally. Because, 1ke Isaid, IId been there seven years. And Iheld different been in differentdepartments. I actually started as a prep.So I knew what a loan was. I knew what anote was, knew what a modification was, andstuff of that nature.

Q. But I assume, and correct me if I 1m24 wrong, that DOCXis receiving these documents25 from a host of different lenders, correct?


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C. THO~SA. Correct.23 many different lenders or different banks,

Q. Okay. So if you're dealing with so

4 how would you know, given whatever set of5 documents you were looking at, what needed to6 be changed?7 A. Because all of the documents were8 pretty much the same as far as the standard9 procedure, formwise. They were so you10 would know what particular document to go and11 look for something, if it was a schedule12 they paid, the type, but you would know13 exactly where to go and look for something.14 Because they were all kind of like the same1516

documents, just a di fferent, you knowI bank

17 pretty much the same standard document.name or something like that. But it was all

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1819

Q. Okay. If if they were allstandard then I Im sorry, maybe I Imaskingthe question incorrectly.

But how would you know, you know,what names to change or or loan amounts

2524 actual lender of what to change?

to change, without being advised from the

A. Again, it IS it's di fferent


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1 departments.18

C. THOMASBecause, 1ike I said it from

2 the beginning, when the documents come in the

4 documents come in the door, they have a3

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10111213141516171819202122232425

door this is my knowledge of it, when the

C-dating process thatQ. I'm sorry, what was that?

They have a C-dating process. They.call it C-dating.

Q. Like the letter C dating?A. Yeah, the letter CQ. Okay.A. and then dash dating. They call

it a C-dating process. When the documentcomes in the door, they see the document.They note the document come in. And it'sfilled with papers. It F s, like, a folderthat Is filled with papers, probably anywherefrom 20 to 30 papers, depending upon thedocument.

And once that document comes in thedoor, it F S an original document, so then it'sanother process. I could be skippingdifferent processes. But I'm just going withthe flow. There's another process that scansthis document, okay. So we have it on the


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C. THOMASsystem, because it's scanned. So if that2 document goes back out the door incorrectly,3 because of the scanning system that we have,4 we would know that that was correct.

6 doing something with the document, I can't5 So if if once somebody is

7 say exactly what they might be doing with8 the document, but say a temp was doing9

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something with the document. Say they waslooking up a name and maybe the name was

12 was different than the name on the titlea name on the document, the loan document,

13 page, so the temp went in and said, well,1415

this title page should have the same name as

16 change the document.the loan documents and they might go in and

171819202122232425

Why? I couldn't tell you. Whatevertheir job duties was, that's somethingtotally different. NOw, they call that dataentry. So if they change the document, wealready have it scanned, so we know what thecorrect name and everything that was on thedocument.

So if it went out the door and theysaid that name shouldn't have been changed.


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20C. THOMAS

2 on the door with a cover sheet, that Is whenWhy was it changed? So once it come back

3 they would question us, why was this document45

So we would change the namehanged name?back and send it back out. And they said,

6 okay f yeah f the document is correct f7 something like that.8 And when you say they Ire saying it Is.9 correct f are you talking about the10 supervisors or the lender on the documents?111213

A. The lender.Q. Okay. Now when you said you would

14 doing the data entry, would change the namethe temps f or whoever it was that was

1516 name in the actual loan documentation?

on a title sheet, would they ever change the

1718

A. sometimes. It depends on whatever

19 may not be just a name change on the titledata entry process they Ire doing. It it

20

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page. It could be a schedule date. Itcould be anything. 1m 11m not sure ofthe process of the data entry part of it, sowhile they would be doing whatever with theloan.

Q. Okay. what kind ofow


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21C. THOMAS

1 verification would you guys do, or whoever it2 was that was input ting the names, to know3 whether the title page name was correct or4 the name in the loan documentation was5 correct?

9 different schedule days or different

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10111213141516

A. That's another department that wouldmake sure that it's different bank namestha t would have di fferent codes. There's

assignments that may be attached to a loan.So the supervisor or f you know,

someone would have already gathered thatinformation from whatever bank. And sothey'll know exactly which code or which name

It's justhould be on there. they

17 gotten from the lender to know exactly, youthey would have a code that they would have

18 know, what should be correct and what's1920

2122232425

incorrect or something to that nature. Andthey tha t ' s I again I the data entrydepartment.

Q. Okay. And the coding I does thatrefer to the borrowers and the lenders orjust the lenders?

It could be ei the.r / or.. I've seen


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3 different departments, I guess, within DOCX,4 whenever you were there?

7 departments, do you think, are involved in

12

56

22C. THOMASeither/or.

Q. Okay. Now, you said there's

A. Correct.Q. Was it how many different

8 this process?9 that's really hard to say.. That's

10 Me, mysel f, I've probably only done three orII1213141516171819202122

23

But it itour different departments.could be anywhere from six six to tendi f feren t departments. It depends onwhatever, you know, they're doing at thattime. Because we had other different thingsthat we did at the job as well.

You know, once the mortgage companygot like it did. You know, the mortgage isgoing down, and, you know, all of theflexibil i ty with that. You know, we didother things like foreclosures. So it justdepends on what department. There's

24 was there.there's a lot of different departments that

25 Q. And how many people are we talking


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A.

23C. THOMASI mean, do you have any idea of how2 many people were working at DOCXduring that

about?

3 time?45 about 30.

A. See, when I started, it was probably

6 probably a good 100, 150, maybe.By the time we ended, it was

7 Q. And when did when is the date8 that you refer to as the ending date?9 A.

10 actual due date, but they let us go AprilApril 1st or April 2nd was the

11 the 1st.1213

Q.A.

Of what year?2009.Okay. So were were you also4 Q.

15 employed at DOCXand LPS as a notary?16 A. Yes.

Okay. Did you notarize different7 Q.

Yes.How many abou t how many documents

18 documents?192021

A.Q.

would you notarize on any given

23

25 one day.

at any22 given time?

That's flexible. It could be24 anywhere from one to a thousand documents in


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2Q. Okay.

24C. THOMASAnd how was that setup? I

3 in order to notarize them?mean, how how did you get the documents

45

A. It was different processes. So somesometimes we would go into a room and,

6 you know, we sat around the table and the7 different people named that might have been8 on the documents, those people were in there910111213

as well. And so as they signed, you know,we just kind of passed the documents. Andyou you got to the end, which was thenotary. Because there might be three orfour persons I names on the documents. So by

14 the time it got to the notary, then all of151617

those persons would have signed it.And sometimes it would depend upon

the work schedule. You got in there when18 you got in there.19

2120 earlier about the documents and the data

Q. And when you were talking about

22 guys did with the documents, did you guysinput and all of the other things that you

23 were you guys responsible for creating the

2524 as signment of mortgages as well?

A. I can I t say that for sure, because


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25C. THOMAS

I've never been a part a part of thatdepartment, if it was. To my knowledge,like I said, they came in the door already

4 with all of that in it, the assignments, the

6 of that was in the documents when it came in5

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you know, the note, the title page, all

the door. If anything was created, I don 1 tknow. I haven 1 t seen it.

So you just personally, you know.that you r ve never been involved in creating

12 mortgage or any of those documents?an assignment of mortgage or a note or a

131415

A. Right. Right.Q. Okay. Now, back to the the room

16 you could get there when you could getwhere people are signing, when you say that

1718 mean everybody was there or how would that

there, what do you mean? Does that always

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work?A. Well, it it depends, again, on

the on the supervisor. Sometimes she r 11tell you you have to do your own work andyou get in there when you get in there. Itjust it really depended upon thesupervisor.


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26C. THOMASAnd, of course, we questioned it.

2 Because it's like, well, why can't I be in

7 want to get at is, when you say you

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there? If they're signing their name, Ineed to see it. Well, just do what you'retold. And so you did what you were told.

Q. Okay. Now that Is kind of what I

8 questioned it, what do you mean by9

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"questioned it II?A. Quest ioned it in terms of if

12 notary, I have to see that person sign thesomebody IS name is on the document and IIm a

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And so when Iocument. when I saythat, I've said ita number of times I youknow, to my supervisors. And they were,like, well, you you got your own work todo. And you go in there, you know all of

19 you just go in there and sign when it's yourthose people are already in the room signing,

20212223

time, stuff like that. So it depends onwhat day.

Q. Okay. So if I understand yourtestimony correctly then, either

24 _.. or Renee Gaglione, whoever it may be,2 5 actually instructed you not to be in the


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27C. THOMAS

room, in some circumstances, when these2 things were being signed?34

A. Correct.Q. So there were times that you would

5 notarize something where you didn Itactually6 physically watch the person sign the7 document?89

A. Correct.DO you have any idea. you may

10 not, but do you have any idea of how many11 of those documents you would have notarized12 without actually seeing the person sign?13 I really couldn r t sayan idea. I.14 really couldn 1 t say a number to be accurate.15161718192 0

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I couldn r t even say close to a number. Itit could be a thousand document s . I

I it could be more or it could be less.I really couldn 1 t give an exact number. Ijust know there was a lot of times that wedidnlt. We knew the person was in there,but we didn't physically see them sign.

Q. SO the setup of, I guess, youroffices is that there is a room ~ere t\ese

. 'I;>~'ople" are signing these documents?A. Correct.


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12 four walls and a door?

Q.28C. THOMASLike the room we're in nowI with

34

A. Correct.Okay. So you so you wouldn't.

5 actually be able to see the people who are67

in the room while this is happening?nA. At the beginning of the day, you'll

8 know if you're on a document.9

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How do I say it?It IS almost like a whenever they

12 dropdown box that they would pick a certainwere creating documents, it t s, like, a

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So if you knew that if ifame.they knew that you were going to be on thedocuments that day because some days youmight not be on the documents. But if theyknew you were going to be on the documents,the supervisor in the room, at that time,was Jeffrey I don It even know his last

I think it was _.knew that you were going to be on thename. So if he

documents that day I he would come to you andsay they Ire using you as a notary today, soyou need to come in the room today. So Iwould take it upon myself and go into the


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29C. THOMASroom and see who was in the room.If I knew that it was, again, going

to be a fight with Renee to say you need to

5 you know the last person has signed, whateverstay at your desk and, you know, you go once

6 the case may be. Jeffrey would come and get7 you or Jeffrey would e-mail you to come in89

10111213141516171819202122232425

the room, stuff like that. But I wouldI would go in the room myself and see thatthe persons that are on those documents arein the room.

Q. Okay. So is it true or is itaccurate for me to say that it was theprocedure for DOCXto tell you and othernotaries not to be in the room, in somecircumstances, when signing these documents?

MS. SUMACEWSKI: Form; objection.THE WITNESS: Objection means I

don r t have to answer it?Q. NO, you still ha.f'ie tOI, answer it.A. Oh, okay. Sometimes I in some cases,

yes, they said, we didn r t they wouldn r tlet us in the room. They said you do yourown work. You do what you need to do

Q. Okay.


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1 A.Q.

30C. THOMASyou go in there ...

And when we're saying u they, II we're3 meaning the supervisors that you've described?2

45

A.Q.

Correct.NOw, when it DOCXbecame LPS, did

6 that procedure change?7 A. Slowly, it did, not right away, but8 it progressed to a better change.9 Q. Were those supervisors still in place

10 at the time when LPS took over?1112131415161718

A.Q.

Yes.Okay. Are you familiar with the

rules of a notary? I mean, I ask that andI'm not trying to be facetious I but youunderstand what the role of a notary is,correct?

A.Q.

Correct.

19 what needs to be done before you couldDO you know the rules as far as

202122232425

notarize something?A. Correct.Q.

describe your understanding of what thoseOkay. Can you, please, briefly

rules are?A. The bank the main thing was you


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131C. THOMASsee a person sign a document, you know what

2 was on the document, so that when you3 notarize it, it's an accurate signature.4 Now, when you would notarize. Okay.5 these documents, whether you would watch them6 sign it or not, some of these people signed7 as corporate officers, correct, vice8 presidents, secretaries, stuff like that?9

1011121314

A. Correct.Q. Were you ever provided any

informa t ion regarding thei r authori ty to signin those capacities?

A. NO, that is another question thatwe, of course T have, ofcourse, aroused

15 many times.16 Q. When you say you raised that issue,17 can you describe how that situation went?18192021

MS. SUMACEWSKI: Relevancy.THE WITNESS: Again, you do what

you Ire told. You just it's covered. We

22 That r S really all you would get from them.have legal documentation. It's covered.

2324

Q. Okay. So when these people wouldsign as these corporate officers, they never

25 produced, to you, anything that shows that I


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And

32C. THOMAS1 am this officer, whatever that position may2 be?

A. No.Q. Okay. And when you raised this

5 issue with them, they just told you to do6 what you were required to do?7 Yeah, we got it covered. We're.8 legal. You can do it. That 's fine, jus t9 notarize it.1011

Q. Now, you said that Tywanna is yourdaughter?

1213

A. Correct.Q. DO you have any information or know

14 any information about her being a corporate15 officer?16 A. No.171819

Q. Are you currently a notary?A. No.Q. Okay. Did you just not reinstate

20 your license or what happened?21 A. Once I moved because we the22 company was in Fulton County. So once I23 moved, I addressed that with Renee, which was2425

such a blessing for me. And I'm inGwinnett. So I'm like, I'm no more.


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1 that's when they33C. THOMASwell, upon us leaving

2 anyway, they took up our notary stamps and34 relieved of my duties once I moved to

everything and destroyed them. But I was

5 Gwinnett County.

10 the supervisor in the signing room at that

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11

Q. Who who I'm sorry, did I missthat? Who destroyed those documents?

A. I can't say exactly who destroyedthem. All I know is that Jeffrey-12 notaries' stamps.time, he picked up everyone's stamp, the

131415161718192021

Q. He took your stamps?And and. He took our stamps.

they were destroying them.Q. How were they destroying them?A. I don't know how. He just said

they were picking up all of the stamps, allof the notary stamps. And they were goingto destroy them, because the company was

22 used for that company.closing. And they were only supposed to be

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Q. DO you know the names of any of theother notaries that were there at the time?

Wow. I can't say, because, at that.


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134C. THOMAStime, upon the closing, they had hired a lot

2 of temps that became notaries, so I didn't3456789

10111213141516171819202122232425

know them personal Iy. I didn't know them byname. And it was different notaries thatwere there, but I don't know whether theywere active. Once they hired other notaries

once LPS kind of took over, they hiredanother, maybe, eight notaries.

Q. What about the notaries th~t '1..werEltthere during the seven years that you workedfor DOCX?

A. I only knew a few.was one.

Q. And that'sA. Correct.Q. Any, relation?A. She's my niece.

Wow. . . . . . . . H I was one.

Thomas

Bailey(phonetic) . I can't I can't

spell her last name . I just know it startswith a K. She was one. III wasone. That's really all the ones I couldthink of at this time.

Q. Okay. So during the seven years youwere with DOCX or thereabouts, these were


35/86

135C. THOMAS

some of the notaries that were working with2 you?3

45

Right..Q. And they would have been under the

6 under?same procedures or guidelines that you were

78

A. Correct.that was another

9 one.And

101112131415

Correct I same guidelines.Q. Now when you got your notary stampcan I see your certificate, again? 1'm

sorry.(Whereupon, ..handing documenlt.)MR BLEVINS: And I guess for

16 purposes I if we could I document this as171819202122232425

Exhibi t -A since I didn't have thispreviously. "

.. " (Whereupon, Exhibi t-A was marked foridentification.)BY-MR.BLEVINS: t . _", .. .

Q. The certificate you got here thatsays you r re from Fulton County I Georgia ICathelene Robinson is the Clerk of the Courtfor Cheryl Denise ThomasI correct?


36/86

12

36C. THOMASA. Correct.Q. Okay. And this was done on or

3 about, it looks like, the 8th day of Apri I4 Can you tell me what5 those dates are?

of is this '06?

6789

10

A. April 8, 2007, is when it was done,and it expired 2012.

Q.A. It would have expired 2012.Q. Now, this is this notary is in

11 your individual capacity I correct?1213141516171819202122232425

A. The stamp?Q. Yes.A. No, they took it up upon the office

closing, they took it from us.Q. When you applied to become a notary,

did you apply to become a notary as CherylDenise Thomas

A. Yes.Q. or as Cheryl Denise Thomas as

employee for?A. Well, when they they paid for

everything, the the company. DOCX paidfor everything. So they let us know that itwas for that company specifically. You don 't


37/86

2345

37C. THOMASnotarize anything else outside the company.In other words, we wasn't we

couldn't even take them home. They had tostay in the office. So you notarized only

6 outside the office.in the office. You didn't do anything

7 Q. Okay. Then based on your notary8 certificate here, your notary stamp still9 would have been active when DOCXor LPS10 closed in 2009?1112131415

A. Correct.Q. Okay. And is this your correct

signature here on your application?A. Correct.

Okay. Okay. MS Thomas, what I.16 would like to do now is I r m going to ask17 you some questions about some particular1819202122232425

documents, okay?A. Okay.Q. I've already showed these to

Plaintiff's Counsel, but I just want you totake a look at this.

Can you do you recognize thisdocument in any way? Do you have anyindependent knowledge of this document?


38/86

6 I Ive worked with everyone here t so I know

12345

7

A. Those38C. THOMASthis is the documents, like

I say, when when we go into that roomQ. Uh-huh.

you would know the people. I.know I know everybody on this document.

their names. And I would know, when I8 walked into that room, that they Ire actually9 in that room when I would go and do my10111213141516

when it would if it was a time that shesaid you do your work, you sign later, Iwould go into the room and make sure thatthose people were in that room.

Q. Okay. And just before we go anyfurther, I have this marked as Exhibit-B.

17 Mortgage, in the instant case that we're hereAnd this is the Assignment of

18 to talk about, between American Home Mortgage1920

2122

Servicing, Incorporated, assuccessor- in- interest to Option One MortgageCorporation. The borrower Is name is StanleyMariskovic, a single person. Original

23 mortgagee was Option One.2425

But you don't have any independentknowledge whether this is one of the


39/86

4

39C. THOMASdocuments where you were actually present in2 the room or if this was one of the times3 when you were told not to be in the room?

(Whereupon I Exhibi t-B was marked for5 identification.)67

Object to form.S. SUMACEWSKI:THE WITNESS: Correct I I can r t say

8 whether I was in the room for this document9 or not, I cannot.10 BY-MR.BLEVINS:11 Q. Okay. And you say you recognize the12 names of the people who were on that13141516

document?A. Correct.Q. Okay. Can you list off those names?A. Dawn Williams, Korell Harp. Christina

17 Huang, and Tywanna Thomas.18 Q. Okay. Now, Korell Harp signed as a19 vice president, correct202122232425

A. Correct.Q. at least, as far as this document

is concerned?A. Correct.

MS SUMACEWSKI: Objection. Itcalls for a legal conclusion.


40/86

1 Q. Okay.40

C. THOMASAnd Tywanna ThomasI she2 signed as an assistant vice president?345

Same obj ect ion.S. SUMACEWSKI:THE WITNESS: Correct.

Q. And are those signatures accurate?6 Is that Tywanna 1 s signature?78

TO my knowledge, it is, yes..Q. Okay. And on the back page is

9 where you notarized it?10111213141516

A. Correct.Q. And is that your signature?A. Yes.Q. Okay. Now, when you notarized this

document, did either Korell Harp or TywannaThomas present to you any information

17 president, or an assistant vice presidentregarding their ability to sign as a vice

181920

2122232425

respectively?A. No.Q. And did you have any hand or have

any independent knowledge as to the creationof thi s document?

A. I I know that there was adocument that was created at DOCX, because Ican because of the names that are on it.


41/86

8 of Mortgages, yes.

234567

9

41C. THOMASQ. And it also says that it's recordedand returned to DOCXat the top left-handcorner, correct?

A. Correct.Q. So this is what your documents would

have looked like from DOCX?Well, yes, Assignment Assignment.

Do you know if based on. Okay.10 your prior test imony, about the editing of11

12

1314

Do you know if either thehe documents?date of the mortgage, the recording date., theloan amount I document number, or any of thenames listed in the the paragraphs of the

15 Assignment of Mortgage were changed?161718192021

A. To my knowl edge, no.Q. But it was your testimony, though,

that if the lender told you to changesomething that that would have occurred?

MS. SUMACEWSKI: Obj ect to form.THE WITNESS: Correct, if it came

22 back as a rej ect and something needed to be232425

changed, correct.Q. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Thomas.A. Uh-huh.


42/86

1 Q.42C. THOMASI would like to show you another

23

document. We're going to call it DefenseExhibit-C. Actually, what we'll do is we'll

4 call this Composi te Exhibit -C, because there's5 going to be multiple documents here.67 were marked for identification.)

(Whereupon, Exhibit-C through C-10

8 MS. SUMACEWSKI: Objection to9 relevancy, authenticity to these documents.

10 BY-MR.BLEVINS:111213141516171819202122232425

Q. Ms. Thomas, is this another familiartype of form that you witnessed while youwere working at DOCX?

A. Correct.Q. Okay. This is another Assignment of

Mortgage, correct?A. Correct.Q. Okay. NOw, this one is from

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems asthe nominee for American Home MortgageAcceptance, Incorporated, correct?

A. Correct.Q. Do you know the people who signed

this document?A. Yes.


43/86

1 Q.43

C. THOMASDo you have any independent knowledge2 as to whether or not you were in the room3 when this document was created or when you4 signed it?567 room?89

A. I was.Q. Okay. Were you actually in the

A. Yes.Q. And how do you know that you were

10 actually in the room?1112131415

capacity?

A. Because I actually signed.Q. Okay. And you signed in what

A. As a vice president.Q. Are you or do you have any documents

16 to show that you are, in fact, a vice17 president of any company?18192021

raised.A. Again, another question that we

No, not at all.Q. Okay. So as to your knowledge,

you Ire neither a vice president for Mortgage22 Electronic Registration Systems, Incorporated?2324

A. Correct.Q. Or for American Home Mortgage

25 Acceptance, Incorporated?


44/86

1

4 4C. THOMASA. Correct.2 Q. Okay. Now, the other people who3 signed this, can you list off the people who4 signed this document as well?5 A. s Linda Green, and6 Tywanna Thomas.7

89

10

Q. Now, is ~ is sherelated to Jeffrey & I 7 E l i or is she howis she involved with the company?

A. I don1t think she1s related to11 Jeffrey at all.12 NOW, the but the witnesses that.13 signed, would they just go into that room as14 well and sign the documents?1516

A. Yes.Q. Okay. Now, did Tywanna Thomas also

17 sign this document?181920

To my knowledge, yes..Q. Is that her accurate signature?A. As far as I know. I mean, you sign

21 so many documents, of course, the signature22232425

changes a lot. But as far as I know, yes.Q. Okay. And this was notarized by- - ?A. Yes.


45/86

12345678

Q.45C. THOMASWas she in the room when you all

signed this document?A. I I really couldn It sayQ. Okay.A. '-- horae at.Ly,Q. And just for clarification, this is

the Assignment of MOlrtgage" 'betWieen Jason

9 Registration Systems as nominee for AmericanCross, signed by Mqrtgage Electronic

10111213141516171819202122232425

Home Mortgage Acceptance, Incorporated.MS. SUMACEWSKI: Objection as to

relevancy.Q. Okay. Now, the remainder of the

documents, Ms. Thomas, are other Assignmentsof Mortgages, if you want to take anopportuni ty just to look through those realquick.

These all look fairly familiar toyou?

A. The di fferent names and the people,yes.

Q. Okay.I do know that some some of. I

the sig,natures are changing. And I I cantruthfully say it's because they have


46/86

123

46C. THOMASsurrogate signers.Q. Okay. That's what I want to talk

4 Assignment of Mortgage I which is anotherto you about. Let's start from the first

5 Assignment of Mortgage from Jason Cross I from6 Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems as7 nominee for American Home Mortgage Acceptance,8 Incorporated, which is Composite C and we'll9 call this 2.10111213141516171819202122232425

MS. SUMACEWSKI; Objection torelevancy; authenticity.

Q. Now, these people who signed thisdocument, you didn't notarize this one,correct?

A. Correct.Q. Okay. But do you recognize the

signatures of those who did sign thedocument?

A. I kind of recognize them, yes, fromagain, you sign so many documents. But

to my knowledge I that's kind of theirsignature, yes.

Okay. And the one I want you to.pay potential attention to or part i cularattention to is Tywanna Thomas r s signature.


47/86

2

47C. THOMASIs that her signature?

A. Once again, they change so much, but3 I do know that she was one of the ones that4 had a surrogate signer5678

Q. Okay.A. so ...Q. SoA. If I if I look through these

9 documents, I can see that her signature has10 changed a lot.1112131415

Q. Okay.A. So I don't know which one is a

surrogate and which one ...Q. Well, what I want to ask you,

16 definitively whether or not this one onthough, is, I'm going to need you to tell me

17 on C-2 is Tywanna Thomas's signature.181920212223

A. C-2?Q. Yes, this document right here, yes

(indicating)A. To my knowledge, that's the way she

signs, yes.Q. Okay. NOw, turn to the next

24 Assignment of Mortgage, which we will call25 C-3. This Assignment of Mortgage also has


48/86

2345

48C. THOMAS1 Tywanna Thomas's signature on it, correct?

A. Correct.Q. Is that her signature?A. That's also close. I will say yes.

MS. SUMACEWSKI: Objection to foz'm6 relevancy i and authenticity.7 MR. BLEVINS: DO you want to make8 that standing, because I'm going to ask the9 same question for all of them?

1011

MS. SUMACEWSKI: Yeah, for all of

12 relevancy, and form.these assignments as to authenticity f

13 BY-MR.BLEVINS:141516

Q. Okay. Now, Ms. Thomas, I want totalk to you about C-4, which you're lookingat right now. Is that do you see that

17 Tywanna Thomas signed this assignment as18 well?1920

2122

232425

A. I would say that's different. Ithat would probably be a surrogate.

Q. That's a surrogate?A. Yes.Q. Are you sure?A. I said that would probably be a

surrogate. I would think so, yes.


49/86

123456789

Q. Okay.49

C. THOMASAnd, also, she, at this time,signed as an assistant vice president. Now,you've said before, though, that you don'tbelieve that you've ever seen anydocumentation showing that she actually is anassistant vice president?

A. Correct.Q. But on the very first document, she

signed as an assistant secretary. Are you10 aware of any documentation or anything that1112 position?

would have occurred that changed her

1314151617181920212223

A. No.Okay. I want to talk to you about,.

what we'll call, C-5.should be Leticia ......

The borrowe r 's nameOkay. Tywanna

Thomas signed this Assignment of Mortgage?A. That looks like a surrogate signer.Q. Okay. And why do you say that?A. Her name is more fuller, the first

name would be more fuller. And she don'ther T is not like that.

Okay. Now, when you we III come24 back to that.

Q.

25 I would like you to turn to C-6.


50/86

123

5 0C. THOMASDo you recognize these signatures?

I'm not fami liar with Veronica is.that veronica'_? I'm not familiar with

4 that, but the other two, Chris Pendley and56789

1011121314151617181920

2122232425

Lisa and Christina, yes.Q. Okay. Are those their signatures?A. To my knowledge, yes.Q. Okay. I would like you to turn to

C-7. The borrower's name should be DillonCampbell. Do you recognize these signatures?

A. That Tywanna is a little shady, butit could have been one of those times shewas probably moving through the documents.So I wouldn't say yes or no to t.hat; one.

Okay. So you don't know?.A. I wouldn't - - " yeah, I wouldn't say

yes or no to that, because it's it'sclose. But I I wouldn't say yes or noto that, whether it was a surrogate signeron that one or not.

Q. And, again, this time she's signingas an assistant vice president?

A. Correct.Q. Okay. Now, I would 1ike you to

turn to C-8. The borrower's name should be


51/86

1 Steven51C. THOMASDo you recognize these.

2 signatures?34567

A. Tywan~a, ct~p.in, is that's assurrogate signer. And Linda Green, that's asurrogate signer.

8 signer?9

101112131415

And how do you know that?.A. How do I know she had a surrogate

Q. Yes, rna' am.A. It was several people in the office

that had surrogate signers, that I do know.I know that because of notary purposes.

Okay..A. It's one of the questions that came

up when Linda Green didn ' t look 1ike Linda16 Green and you asked me to notarize it.17 Q. Okay. And we'll call this one C-9.18 Do you recognize these signatures for the19 Assignment of Mortgage and the borrower's20212223

name is Brenda - _ . ?A. I recognize those signatures, yes.Q. Okay. Let's turn to C-IO. This is

the borrower Is name is Jack 3 .24 This one doean ' t have Tywanna Thomas Is25 signature on it, correct?


52/86

152C. THOMASA. Correct.

2 Q. Would that have been a problem for3 you all as far as notarizing these documents4 if that doc- if that signature was5 missing?6789

Obj ect to form.S. SUMACEWSKI:THE WITNESS: Let's just say it

would have it would have came back tobi te us more than it would them. But with

10 the process, like I say, the way they have111213141516

us doing work, they t.hey i r e getting stuffout the door. They want you to go in theroom later. And if you miss a signature or

or you miss something or it's it justcomes back to bi te you in the butt later,

17 door, because there's always a timetable.but they they're rushing stuff out the

18 There's always a time limit, I should say.19 Now, when you say come back to hi te20 us versus them, who is us and who is them?

Q.

2122232425

A. Us in terms of notaries.Q. And them?A. Them would be the managers.Q. So you thinkA. We would take the fall for it before


53/86

5 be like, well, you should have paid6 attention, but you're constantly rushing stuff

1234

7

53C. THOMASthey would.

Q. You would take the fall?A. We we wouldn't have a choice but

to take the fall for it. Because they would

out the door. You're you know, you Ire8 you're constantly running us here and there9

10111213

and saying do this and do that. Sosometimes you get there, you just sign itand you keep on going.

Sometimes I've I've known ofincidents of some notaries that probably

14 would have been in the room and signed, so15 they could go do what they had to do. It's16 it IS just it just depends on the17 manager and what day she how she was181920

21

feeling that day.Okay. Now I want to go back to.

something you touched on here in a second,

22 want to take a minute and flip through it Ibut I would 1ike to ask you I and if you

2324 of these documents being signed without the

that Is fine I but do you have any knowledge

25 presence of a notary?


54/86

4 type of documents that would have been

1

23

54C. THOMASA. I I don't have anycan't say.knowledge of it. I can't say yes or no.

Q. Okay. But these would have been the

5 potentially notarized without one of you6 notaries being in the room?789

101112131415

MS. SUMACEWSKI: Form.THE WITNESS: Possibly.

Q. Okay. NOw, the surrogate signers Ihow did that work? How did the surrogatesigning si tua t ion occur?

A. I can't say how i toccurred.Q. Okay.A. When it was brought to my attention,

16 day it was, but we were all in the room andit was a particular day f I can't say what

17 we were informed that we were going to have1819 people that were on the documents had a lot

surrogate signers. Because some of the

20 of work to do, so they brought in different2122232425

temps to sign for them. And they let usthey told us that it was legal and it wasokay. And they even had a form thatlet's just say Tywanna, for instance litwould be a it was a form that we would


55/86

12

55C. THOMASsee and Tywanna would sign her name the way

3 her surrogate signer, he would sign Tywanna' sshe signs her name.

456789

101112

13

And if John was

name the way he signs Tywanna's name.Sometimes it was close. Sometimes it wasn't.But they told us that it was legaldocumentation, that it was okay for Joeto sign Tywanna's name this way, because ofthe form that they had, so ...

Q. Can you can you describe the formfor me?

I really can't. It's been a long.time. And it was just that one time. I've

14 never seen the form after that.1516 what the form was?

Q. And what was your understanding of

17181920

2122

232425

A. That it was a legal form thatTywanna Thomas would sign her name a certainway and Joe would sign it close orhowever however he signs it. And it waslegal for him to do that, because Tywannahad a lot more work to do. And she didn'thave time to sign the documents.

So, in other words, we would havehad to wait on Tywanna to come in, in which


56/86

156

C. THOMASTywanna wasn It the only one that had a

2 surrogate signer, but we would have,,~owai t3 for Tywanna to come in before we could456

finish out the document. So they had, like,four or five different surrogate signers.

Q. NOw, when you say they told you that7 this was legal or they told you to fill out8 this form, who is "they"?9

1011121314

The managers, Renee Gaglione again,.Jeffrey _ also, and Shelly. ShellyScheffey was also one of the supervisors.She informed us. She was in there duringthat conversation. Kim French, she was a

She was also in there. And I15 want to say that the HR person was in there,

manager.

16171819202122232425

Carol _. I want to say she was alsoin in the room at that time. Thatthat IS basically it, I think, for supervisorsthat were i'P- th6b room, that I can remember

that I can recall. There could have beenI just it was mainly people inore.

the room, more I ike notaries and, you knowIsome of the people's names that were actuallyon the documents.

Q. Okay.


57/86


58/86

6 after you all signed it or notarized these

12345

58C. THOMAStold.Q. Did you ever notarize any documents

that you knew a surrogate had signed?A. Yes.Q. What happened to these documents

7 documents?89

A. They were shipped out.Q. Were you asked to keep track of

10 different state jurisdictions, county11121314

jurisdictions as far as what was required onthese documents?

A. As as what?Q. For example, if you were given an

15 Assignment of Mortgage from Florida, would16 you handle that differently than if you were17 handed an Assignment of Mortgage from, say,181920

2122232425

Georgia?A. I wouldn't personally, no I I wasn't

given anything pertaining to that. I knowthere was different jurisdictions, but itwasn't something that I had memorized or hadany knowledge of. That would be data entrythat would, you know, do something upon that.

Q. Do you know what goes into or what's


59/86

59C. THOMASrequired for these Assignment of Mortgages to2 be valid?3

4567

MS. SUMACEWSKI: Object to form.THE WITNESS: No, I don 't.Okay. So the I'm sorry, let me.

flip through these real quick. Okay.

8 about before, where you signed as a viceSo referring to C-l that we talked

9 president10111213

A. Uh-huh.Q. Are you looking at that document?A. Yes.Q. The Assignment of Mortgage says that

14 this was conveyed for good and valuable15 consideration from Mortgage Electronic16 Registration Systems, Incorporated, as nominee1718 Bank National Association as Indenture Trustee

for American Home Mortgage Acceptance to U.S.

1920212223242 5

for American Home Mortgage Investment Trustand a list kind of a long list for thetrust.

Do you know or have any actualknowledge as to what valuable or good orconsideration was given for this assignment?

A. No.


60/86

1 Q.60

C. THOMASAnd you don r t know that even though2 you signed as a vice president?345 Q.

Obj ect to form.S. SUMACEWSKI;THE WITNESS: No.

6 corporate position in any corporation as farOkay. Have you ever held any

7

89

as yourA.Q.

10 meeting?111213141516171819202122232425

A.Q.

as far as you know?No.Have you ever been to a board

No.

have you ever been paid out any dividends orOkay. Have you ever been asked

anything like that from a corporation?A.Q.

No.

Registration, Incorporated, or American HomeOkay. So has Mortgage Electronic

Mortgage Acceptance , Incorporated, evercontacted you as being a corporate officer?

A.Q.

No.Okay. And is that the same for

Tywanna Thomas?I know she r s your daughter.But are you aware of any of the

same ci rcumstances with her? Has she ever


61/86

2 by34

1

56

61C. THOMASbeen to a board meeting, ever being contacted

A. To my knowledge, no.Q. Have you been in contact with

anybody from DOCX or LPS regarding any of

7 these Assignment of Mortgages or any otherthese circumstances or situations, regarding

89

10111213141516171819202122232425

documents?A. Since the layoff?Q. Yes.A. No.Q. Have you talked to anybody about any

of these circumstances, any of thesignatories, or anybody else who used to workat DOCX or LPS?

A. Other than Tywanna, no.Okay. Okay. I don r tR. BLEVINS:

think I have any further questions, unlessyou have any questions.

EXAMINATIONBY-MS.SUMACEWSKI:

Q. I just have a couple of questions.with regard to Exhibit-B, the

Assignment of Mortgage having to do with thiscase, the Stanley Mariskovic assignment, your


62/86

62C. THOMAS1 only involvement on this assignment was as2 the notary public I correct?34

A. Correct.Q. You were not involved in the

5 reviewing of this document?6789

Reviewing it in terms of it being.Q. Auditing or editing the document.A. No. No.Q. And about how many departments would

10 you say that this document had gone to111213141516171819202122232425

before it went to the signing process?A. I really can 1 t sayan accurate

number, because there 1 s different departmentsand I don 1 t know the procedure. I just knowonce it 1 S in the room, I do the signing

I don 1 t know. I don 1 t know whorocess.does the printing or anything like that. Idon 1 t know. All I know is it starts withdata entry and it it gets to the signingroom.

Q. And as a notary fat that point, youronly concern is that the people signing thedocument are the people that signed thedocument, correct?

A. Unless they had a surrogate signer f


63/86

12

63C. THOMAScorrect.Q. And when the signings took place,

3 you said that you made sure you knew who was4 in the room?56789

101112131415161718

A. Sometimes I would go in there. IfI if they told me, ahead of time, that Iwas going to be a notary today becausesometimes Jeffrey made it a point hehe was a pretty decent guy. And he made ita point to to tell you sometimes. If hecould get to you and say I you know, you'regoing to be a notary today or or if hecould shoot you an e-mail and say that. Idon't know else who he was doing it to. Iknow he would do it to me from time totime. And when he did that, I would go andI would look to see if somebody is in thatroom that's, chances are, on that document.

19 And I know that I'm going to be a notary2021

for that particular document.So chances are for when you.

22 notarized this assignment, Exhibit-B, you232425

checked to make sure that Dawn Williams,Christina Huang, Korell Harp, and TywannaThomas were


64/86

12

A.64C. THOMASLooking at that signature there, that

that could have very well been one of3 Tywanna1s surrogates on that one (indicating).456789

1011

You would have made sure that the.surrogate was was there, though?

A. Yes.Q. And did anybody keep you from the

room saying that you1re not allowed to go inthe room, that it1s none of your businesswhols in the room?

A. Renee would say that from time to12 time I yes.13 you personally checked. But you14 yourself?15 Sometimes when you knowI unless.16 you 1 re going to have a run- in with her and,17 you know, there ' s your job, you just kind of18 did what you were told192021

Q. Was thatA. stay out of the room, you know.

When it's time for you to go in, they'll22 call you.23 Q. Was that for expediency purposes,24 though?25 Yes, but, yet again, it IS it.


65/86

12

65C. THOMASstill questioned my character as a notary,but to her, that didn't matter. I mean, you

3 do what you do.45678

In other words, she treated shetreated everybody like they were on thosedocuments as just names. The notarieseven though you you had a more

9 matter to her.responsible side of it, it it didn't

1011121314151617181920212223

Q. But she wasn't doing it to deceiveanybody to not have the correct signer signa document?

A. I don't think anybody would havewell, I I shouldn't say I don't think.I know if if Tywanna had a surrogatesigner and I and when I would come intothat room, I it could be 2, 000 documentsin that room.

I may only sign, as a notary, 500documents, say, that day. If I go into thatroom and they're through with my 500, thosethree or four people that are on that

24 notary, my 500, those people are still indocument and it's time for me to sign, as a

25 the room, chances are, because they're on the


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66C. THOMASother 2,000 or 3,000 documents, so they'restill in the room.

So I could look over and say I okay I4 Tywanna is here I or I okay I you knowI there Is567

her surrogate. I I can truthfullysay that, they were still in the room.Chances are I they were there. They wasn It

8 gone out of the room when it came time for9 me to sign.10111213141516171819202122232425

Q. You knew the people you werenotarizing for?

A. Right.Okay. Did you have any seminars or.

training on how to be a notary?A. No.Q. Were you aware of any power of

attorneys or corporate documents thatappointed certain people to act in certaincapacities?

A. No.Q. Is there a chance that there could

be some power of attorneys naming you asas assistant secretary that you just don'tknow about?

It could be. I I don It know.


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21 about it.

Q. Are you familiar with how power of

43 attorneys work?

If someone is incapable of doing for5 themse 1ves, someone has that authority to do6 it for them?

8

A.

Q. In some circumstances, yes.

9 need to know if you Ire someone' s power ofAnd do you know if you necessarily

1 0 attorney?1112

A. I think it's neces sary to know it.Q. Only before

13 you're asked to act on the power ofweII, when you're

1514 attorney?

A. I would I would hope that I

1716 would know it, that I'm going to do

1819

something if I'm given that power as opposedto just telling me I have that power.

2120 notaries in the office?

Q. Now, you said that you left your

2223

A. Yeah, they picked them up. Well,they picked up mine. They said at thattime, Jeffrey said we r re we're picking up

2524 all notary stamps.

Q. I took it to to seem that when


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68C. THOMAS1 you left the office for the day, you left234

your notaries in the office. Did you takeyour notaries with you? Did you always haveyour notary with you whiLe during your

5 employment with DOCX?6789

10111213

A. No, I never never took it home.Q. It was in the office?A. It was always in the office.Q. Was it locked up?A. Sometimes. It depends on like I

said, I moved around a lot. They theyhad me in different departments. Sosometimes it wasn't locked up. But, you

14 know, everybody in the office didn't15 particularly know who all were notaries, per16 se, or act i ve notaries. So, I mean,17 everybody kind of stayed to their own18 station. They wouldn't just, you know, take19 things or whatever, you know, to my20 knowledge.2122232425

Q. You felt it was pretty secure?A. Yeah.Q. And you and you felt that the

supervisor wanted to to keep the notariesin the office for security purposes?


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69C. THOMASA. That, plus to make sure that you

2 don r t notarize anything outside of that,3 they paid4 for you to do specific work for them, that's

because they only paid you to

56

it.Q. Now, by looking at these documents

7 today, do you know with certainty that these8 documents were actually signed by who they9 say they were signed and that the contents

10 of these documents are the exact copies of1112 presented to you?

the originals that were housed, that were

l3141516171819

A. r r can't say for sure. r justthey they look familiar. That's all I

can say. And the signers, some of thesignatures look familiar, like r said, withdifferent ones that had maybe a surrogatesigner attached to it or not, but I I

It was so many documents. If20 my life depended on it, r couldn't tell you,

can r t say.

2122232425

because you sign so many.Q. So Exhibit-C, C-l through 10, you

you would not be able to say that withspecificity that these are actual documentsin the content and form that the copies


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70C. THOMAS1 presented to you today?

3 documents that we have signed throughout the4 course of working there I but to just say

2

5678910111213

A. I can say that looks like the

I wouldn't it would be kind of hard tosay that it's something that's made up orthat is not exactly a copy of something thatI'm used to seeing

Q. And youA. I would say it's something I'm

used to seeing.Q. And you weren't present during the

14 probably not present?ones that don 1 t have your signature or

1516171819202122232425

A. Correct.Q. And you Ire not a handwri ting expert?A. No.Q. Have you ever had any handwriting

training?A. No.Q. And as a notary I was it your duty

to check I might have asked you thisalready. Was it your duty to check and makesure the names were accurate as to the banksand the borrowers


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71C. THOMAS

A. No.Q. on the assignment?

4 necessary to sign the assignments?Were you told how many signers are

56

A. No.So if a name is left off, you it.

7 was okay that you notarized, because you8 weren't notarizing a signature, you didn't9 know if that person's name could be left

1011121314151617181920

2122232425

off, that they needed four signatures or not?It depends on the document. Some of.

them need three. Some of them might needSome might have needed two. It justour.

depends on the document.Q. But in your notary capacity, it

didn't matter to you, you were justnotarizing the signatures that were there?

A. That's hard to say. Because, again,you you're to sign a document aftereverybody has signed, that that was whatwe were told as a notary. That's what youwere told.

But in this off ice, because theywere sweeping stuff out the door, there wouldbe times that you would miss something,


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because of I72C. THOMAS

I want to say because ofthe the pressure that they would put on

4 documents, I might have missed 20.you. There would be times that out of 500

56 just because of the pressure that was on you

To honestly say, I I could have,

7 to you go in there, you got an hour to8 go in there and do whatever and get back.91011

I mean, you so it IS a chance you wouldmiss something. Nobody it Is plenty I' msure went out the door. And I know

12 specifically it went out the door, because13 when I was in the rej ect department I when14 they would come back, there would be times15161718

like that one signature was missing,hatI' ve seen that many times.

Q. You noticed things like a missing

19 Like somebodysignature, but not like an odd signature?

2021

A. The surrogate signer?

22 name?Q. that you didn It recognize the

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A. Only if it was a surrogate signer.Q. But I Im talking about the person

whose name is typewritten underneath, if you


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C. THOMASdidn't recognize the name, would you ask to

2 see that person?345

I haven It really signed any I didn It.I didn It recognize the name.

Q. Okay. That Is what I was trying to6 get at.78

A. Okay.Q. Were you ever ever told to forge

9 any signatures?1011121314151617181920

2122232425

A. No.Q. When the meeting about the

surrogate signers I were the surrogate signerstold to forge the person Is signature?

A. They didn It use the word forge.They used the word as a surrogate signer.And they they said it was legal. Sothey never they didn't use the word forge

Q. And they saidA. they didn't say forge the name.

They just said this is legal. This personis going to be this person Is surrogatesigner I because this person has a lot to do.

Q. And they didn It tell you that thisperson had to sign their signature the wayI


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23456

74C. THOMASlike, Tywanna signed

A. Right.Q. they could sign their own?A. Right, I could look at one here with

Rita Knowles. She definitely don't sign likethat, but she has a surrogate signer. So

7 the surrogate signer could sign however they89 that's the form that we were shown, that the

want 1 that's the way we were told.

10111213141516

And

surrogate signer could sign any way they wantto sign that name.

Q. And when they showed you that forrmdid they tell you it was prepared by legalcounsel?

A. NoI they just said it's legal andthis this is the process that we have

17 done, so now we can do it this way and this1819

is legal. And you kind of raise your

20 you could say.eyebrow, but other than that, nothing more

21 Q. This Assignment of Mortgagel22 Exhibit-BI was there any oath to this232425

assignment or sworn to materials?A. You mean within in the writing

part of it?


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75C. THOMASQ. Right, where was it necessary totake any oaths? Did they swear to theinformation being true and accurate?

To my knowledge, you signed it. You.You signed it. I don Itidn' tread it.

think any of these signers and I knowI don' t want to say think. I know none 0f

8 these signers took the time to read that,9

10111213

because you couldn It do that. You had tosign, flip, keep going. You didn r t youdidn It read every document. There was no

They would you couldn r t do that.ay.Q. But, I mean, did you take oaths? Did

14 you swear these people in and take oaths?15 Every time I went in to sign as a.16 notary I no.17181920

212223

But there r s no requirement on here.for you to take in to swear them in

A. No.Q. or take oaths?A. No.Q. And do you know, firsthand, which

24 not?assignments were read and which ones were

25 A. By the signers?


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76C. THOMASQ. If you signed an assignment, would

you have read it?A. No.Q. As the notary?A. No.Q. And do you see anything that would

raise any any suspicion on this Assignment

3456789

of Mortgage, that of any Assignment ofMortgage in Exhibit-B that you've seen? Is

10 there anything on this Assignment of Mortgage11 that raises any issue with you?12 A. It wouldn't raise an issue with me,13 no I because I again, that would be one of her14 surrogate signers and I wouldn't question15 this document. I would notarize it and keep16 going.1718 this Exhibit-B?

Q. So today, you would still notarize

1920

A. Correct.MS. SUMACEWSKI: Okay. I don't have

21 anything further.22 FURTHER EXAMINATIONn BY-MR.BLEVINS:24 Q. Ms. ThomasI I just have a couple of25 follow-ups.


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C. THOMASWhen you said you would come in and2 identify the people in the room, you said3 something about there is her surrogate,45678

talking about Tywanna Thomas. Do you know

A. Or whoever.Q. Okay. Or whoever.

Do you know specifically who Tywanna9 Thomas 1 s surrogate was?

10111213

A. I believe she had a couple. Again,like I said, when when they hired a lotof the temps, they they hired them mainlyfor that purpose. Some for that purpose.

14 And, 1ike, they hired some for notaries as1516

well. But they hired a lot of temps fortha t purpose. At that time, her surrogate

17 was a & .1819202122232425

Q. S d ?A. Uh-huh.Q. What's do you have a last name?A. _ .Q. ._" likeA. Correct. At one time,

don't want I don't want to mess up herlast name, (phonetic), something like

I


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456789

1011

that.

signers.

78C. THOMAS

Q. Could you spell it the best you

A. I want to say.3 know?

Q. Okay. And you saidA. spelled like Tywanna, but

Q. Okay.A. She was also one of her surrogate

So to my knowledge, she had two.If there was more, I ean t t recall. But to

12 my knowledge, she had two.13 Q. How about the rest of the signers,14 did they all have surrogates as weII?1516171819202122232425

A. Rita Knowles had a surrogate. Idon 1 t remember the guy 1 s last name, but Iknow hi-s first name. Hise was a temp.

Linda Green also hadirst name was Andrew.The guy 1 s name was Chrissurrogate.

40... ', I want to say.temp.

He was also a

Q. ~ or ! I I I l r?A. I think he was on one of

these documents here, _, I thinkit is. Yeah, I guess that


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2

Q.

1 is.Q.

3456

A.

Q.A.

79C. THOMAS

And which are we looking at there?That document (indicating).MS. SUMAC-EWSKI: C-6.C-6. Okay.And he was he was a surrogate

7 signer for Linda Green.8 Q. IIIl1ris was a surrogate for9 Linda Green?

10 A. Correct. I think to my11 knowledge, that r s the only ones I can think12 of at this moment1314

Q.A.

Okay.that I know that had surrogate

17 thatr s K- n-0-w - 1 - e- s ?And just to go back, Rita Knowles,

15 signers.16 Q.

18 A. Correct.1920

Q. Okay. NOw, do you have contactinformation for any of these people? Do you

21 have phone numbers, addresses, or have you22 talked to these people at all?23 A.24 worked25

Surrogate signers or the people that

Any of them,


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80

"C. THOMAS

$ Linda Green, Rita Knowles, d 2 2~I i. t 7 F I J , any of these people.

A. Can I say something off of therecord and and you could put it back on

5 if you need to?6 Q. To be honest with you, Ms. Thomas,7 it's probably best that it all be on the89101112131415

record ....lOkay. Well.

Q. because neither me or herrepresent your interest, so I can't

Okay. To my knowIedge. you'reyou're aware that the FBI is doing whatthey're doing. So they have thatinformation. I don't have that information.

16 The only person I know is Tywanna ThomasI171819202122232425

because she's my daughter. She stays withme. All of the other people, you know, Ir m

I know Rita, but I I can't saywell, I have a phone number for her. Ican't say where she stays.

Q. You have a phone number for RitaKnowles?

A. Yes.Q. Okay.


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A.81

C. THOMASBut I don't know where she stays.Other than that, I don't I don't really

3 have that many that I contact after the job.4 I don't really.5 MS. SUMACEWSKI: I obj ect to the6 relevancy of any people that are not included7 on the Assignment of Mortgage, Exhibit-B.89

10111213

Q . Okay. Do you have her phone number?A. ..Q. Uh-huh.A. - - . . .Q. Okay. I guess,nd so you are

based on your you're talking about the

161718 form.192021222324

14 FBI, you're aware of the investigation into15 DOCX and LPS, as far as the fraud issues?

A. Right.MS. SUMACEWSKI: Objection; relevancy;

Q. Have they contacted youA. Yes.Q. about that?

Have you talked to them?A. Yes.Q. Okay. Is it was it similar to

25 what we're doing here today?


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23

82C. THOMASA. Yes.

Q. And is everything you've told them

4 correct as you told us here today?I mean, as best as you know, accurate and

56

7

A. Yes. Correct.Q. Is there anything, Ms. Thomas, that

I didn't haven't asked you or we haven't8 asked you collectively that you believe that9 we need bOif know?1011121314T516171819202122

232425

MS. SUMACEWSKI: Obj ection torelevancy.

THE WITNESS: NO, I can't think ofanything. You've pretty much askedeverything that the company did or we did atthe company. I I can't think of anythingelse.

Okay. I don't haveR. BLEVINS:any more questions.

Do you have any more questions?MS. SUMACEWSKI: No, I'm done.

All right. Thank you.R. BLEVINS:(Whereupon, the Depos ition of CHERYL

DENISE THOMAS concluded at 11: 06 a.m.)


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83C. THOMASCERTIFICATE

7 transcript was reported, as stated in theI hereby certify that the foregoing

3 STATE OF GEORGIA:4 COUNTY OF FORSYTH:

8 caption, and the questions and answers9 thereto were reduced to typewriting under my10 direction; that the foregoing pages represent11 a true, complete and correct transcript of12 the evidence given upon said hearing, and I13141516171819202122232425

further certify that I am not of kin orcounsel to the parties in the casei am notin the employ of counsel for any of saidparties; nor am I in any way interested inthe result of said case.

Mary Ann HanhamDATE: March 23, 2011


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2

March 24, 2011.

84C. THOMASCERTIFICATE

3 I, Mary Ann Hanham, a Court Reporter4 and Notary Public in the State of New York,5 do hereby certify that the foregoing record6 taken by me at the time and place as noted7 in the heading hereof, is a true and8 accurate transcript of same, to the best of9 my knowledge and belief.

10111213141 51617181920

Mary Ann HanhamDated:

2122232425


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85c. THOMASCAPTION

3 THOMAS, taken in the matter, on the date,The Deposition of CHERYL DENISE

10 and the parties that the Deponent will read11 and sign the transcript of said deposition.

456789

1213141516171819202122

232425

a.nd at the time and place set out on thetitle page hereof.

It was requested that the depositionbe taken by the reporter and that same bereduced to typewritten form.

It was agreed by and between counsel


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4

Notary Public

C. THOMAS1 CERTIFICATE2 STATE OF ___3 COUNTY/CITY OF __

Before me, this day, personally5 appeared, CHERYLDENISE THOMAS, who, being duly6 sworn, states that the foregoing transcript7 of his/her Deposition, taken in the matter,8 on the date, and at the time and place set9 out on the ti tIe page hereof, constitutes a10 true and accurate transcript of said11 deposition.12131415

CHERYLDENISETHOMAS

SUBSCRIBEDand SWORNto before me thi s16 day of _ 2010 in the17 jurisdiction aforesaid.18192021

My Commission Expires

LPS Employee---Deposition of Cheryl Thomas March 23 2011

Documents

Transcript of LPS Employee---Deposition of Cheryl Thomas March 23 2011