PORTLAND, Ore. — A defense attorney in Clark County faces felony charges after allegedly forging a court document to deceive law enforcement to prevent a client's arrest.
Washington's Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is also the governor-elect, charged Josephine Townsend with two counts of forgery on Tuesday. The charges stem from the attempted arrest of one of Townsend's clients for violating an anti-harassment order relating to a prior assault charge.
Townsend had sent her client an amended court order that was supposed to prove that he hadn't violated it, but law enforcement later found the document was forged, the AG's office said. The order had never been submitted to or signed by the court, despite having the court's stamp and signature on it, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Townsend's client also claimed to have never seen the amended court order, which contained his signature. The document had also two misspellings of his first name and the incorrect date of birth.
On July 17, a 911 caller reported that Townsend's client had broken a no-contact order. Clark County Sheriff's Office deputies responded and attempted to arrest the client at his home. The client and his partner were under the belief that the no-contact order had been amended to allow him to live at his home, which falls within the initial radius prohibited. His partner called Townsend, who, after a few hours sent the order, during which the partner appeared frustrated expressing that it took "forever" to get Townsend to send it, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Upon seeing the court order, deputies noticed the case number listed was off. This then sent off a chain of events in trying to confirm several discrepancies in the court order, eventually leading to the discovery that it had been forged. Notably, the day after Townsend's client's attempted arrest, she filed a motion to modify the court order — yet the amended court order shown to deputies the day prior stated it had been signed by the court three months before.
If convicted, Townsend could face up to 90 days in jail and up to $5,000 in fines, the AG's office said.
The attorney general's office usually does not have the authority to initiate criminal prosecutions. But in this case, it accepted a referral from Clark County to be able to do so.