The Department of State's Disciplinary Actions: June 2021
The Bureau of Election Services and Notaries took the following disciplinary actions against notaries public in June 2021:
- A Lycoming County notary was suspended for 24 months, immediately stayed in favor of probation, must complete six-hours of notary practice and procedure course(s), was levied an administrative penalty in the amount of $2,000; and probation assessment fees in the amount of $1,200; because they failed to require the personal appearance of two individuals on a specific occasion, failed to require personal appearance generally, failed to maintain a complete notary journal with all required information, and maintained an electronic journal in a non-tamper-evident format.
- A Philadelphia County notary had their commission revoked based on failure to maintain security over their stamping device by keeping the seal in a box in an easily accessible spot in their workplace, from which the stamp could be accessed by any other person; and failure to properly maintain a journal of notarial acts, by not recording the time of the notarial act; a description of the type of notarial act performed; the issue date of the form of identification used to verify customer identities; and the fee charged.
- A Philadelphia County notary had their notary public commission revoked based on failure to require the personal appearance of a document signer on several occasions; failure to securely maintain their notary stamping device; failure to notify the Department that her notary stamp was lost or stolen; allowing another individual to use their notary stamp; failure to record in their notary register the character of the notarial act performed and receiving fees for their notary services in excess of the fees fixed by the Secretary.