A woman who reportedly said she was a federal agent and could help people with federal lawsuits is now in federal custody, accused of forging signatures and falsifying information in court documents.
In a criminal complaint, the FBI says Merenthia Merecria Nelson filed at least seven lawsuits for third parties in Fort Worth using a so-called pauper form to avoid paying the $350 filing cost."Nelson forged the plaintiff's signature on the affidavit signed under penalty of perjury, attesting that the information was truthful, knowing that was not true. In the application, Nelson made numerous false claims, including among others, the plaintiff was unemployed, had no income, and no assets," Kathryn Lumley, a special agent for the FBI, wrote in a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court.According to the complaint, Nelson was apparently charging individuals for help with their lawsuits and told them that she was paying filing fees.Nelson -- who has many aliases, including Faye Harris, Faith Harris and N. Mathia Thomas -- was arrested June 1 and is in federal custody after a detention hearing Thursday, said Kathy Colvin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Texas.Nelson came to the FBI's attention after a federal court supervisor in Fort Worth thought something was fishy when a woman known only to court employees as "Faye" repeatedly asked for forms for people filing lawsuits as paupers.Nelson never used her last name when talking to court employees and told them that she worked for a courier service, although she never asked for receipts or other documentation.According to the FBI's complaint, Joni Key and Gary Gilliam met with a woman they knew as "Faith" on April 24 at a restaurant in Heath, east of Dallas, to discuss filing a complaint against a David Jackson.During the meeting, the woman reportedly told Key that she was a federal agent. When Key asked to see identification, the woman told her that she had left it in her car. "Faith" also told Key that she would file a criminal complaint against Jackson in federal court and that Key would need to pay $1,200 to cover filing fees and court costs.When Key refused to pay the fee, the woman told her that she would make the filing without payment upfront and that Key would be "pleasantly surprised" with the results.The next day, court employees told the FBI that Nelson filed two lawsuits on behalf of Key and Gilliam.Key later contacted the U.S. district clerk's office and was told that the cost for filing a case was $350, not $1,200.At the FBI's request, Key reviewed documents "Faith" had filed for her and told the FBI that information they contained, such as where she went to school, her birth date and job status, was false and that the writing was not hers. Key later identified "Faith" as Faye Harris, and the FBI determined that her true name may be Merenthia Merecria Nelson.Key and Gilliam declined to comment further when contacted by the Star-Telegram.Several of the lawsuits involved people in foreclosure proceedings, the complaint says. In one case, the plaintiff called the U.S. district clerk's office after receiving notice about an order for the pauper form, in which the plaintiff is described as appearing before the court "in forma pauperis" -- in the character or manner of a pauper.The man "told the employee that the word pauperis sounded like he did not have any money, which was not true, because he paid 'her' $350 to file the lawsuit."Nelson has a lengthy criminal history dating to a 2000 theft conviction in Kaufman County. In January, she pleaded guilty in Dallas County under the name Gafaye Nelson to a charge of tampering with a government record.She was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but the sentence was reduced to four years' probation. However, Jamile Bradfield, a spokeswoman for the Dallas County district attorney's office, said that if Nelson's probation is revoked, she could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.Elizabeth Campbell,817-390-7696Twitter: @fwstlizHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
