This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Park City police say that when it comes to cases of identity fraud, this one's a doozy: a woman allegedly stole the identity of a defense attorney to appear repeatedly in court.
Police Capt. Justin Martinez said the 29-year-old suspect South Jordan woman was arrested Tuesday night and booked into the Summit County jail on suspicion of felony identity theft, forgery and communications fraud.
She remained behind bars on Wednesday in lieu of $25,000 cash bail.
Martinez said the woman allegedly has appeared in district court proceedings in several counties on numerous occasions, passing herself off as Karla Stirling Fierro, a using the Utah State Bar identity number of a University of Utah Law School graduate and legitimate Bountiful-based attorney.
"Most recently, [she] appeared in the 3rd District Court of Summit County on Dec. 23 on a criminal matter using the name Karla Stirling Fierro," Martinez said. "During this proceeding, [the suspect allegedly] represented a suspect in a 2008 criminal case and signed documents in the case."
After the case was completed, however, the Utah State Bar notified the Summit County Attorney's Office that "Fierro" was not a licensed attorney, and that the bar number she was using did not belong to her.
Martinez said a subsequent investigation showed that Stirling was not only in good standing with the bar, but she was completely unaware that her identity had been misappropriated.
How the fraudulent representation would affect various cases the suspect is believed to have been involved with has not yet been determined.
The suspect's only real legal experience in 3rd District Court consist only of a divorce petition and debt-collection related liens filed against her.
Twitter: @remims