SAN ANTONIO – Personal injury attorney Paula D. Perez — with Martinez, Herrera, and Perez Law — said she has an unusual case on her hands.
On Friday, she showed KSAT an email seeking a pending case loan that appears to be written by her. But Perez said the case was really written by a woman she agreed to represent for a personal injury claim.
Perez said the woman’s case had red flags from the beginning.
“She was always asking for money, and so that was another thing that alerted me, of course, with the value of her case and where it was at. I just said, 'You know, my office doesn't lend money out,'” Perez said.
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Perez said when the woman wasn’t fronted any money, she took a different approach and pretended to be Perez.
Perez said the woman even went as far as trying to obtain and use Perez's bar number to vouch for the loan. When that didn't work, Perez said, the woman gave the loan company a fake bar number.
“When the loan company contacted my office about the issue, they said, ‘Look, we think there is some fraud going on,’” Perez said.
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KSAT contacted the woman by phone, but she hung up on us.
Perez is now offering a warning for not just other lawyers but for everyone.
"If attorneys — their identity can be stolen so easily, the average everyday person that doesn't even practice law, you know, can undergo the same type of things,” Perez said, adding she’s no longer representing the client.
San Antonio police are investigating the allegations. While they have not released the woman's name, KSAT looked into the name Perez provided and found the woman already has a separate active warrant pending.