An Anchorage woman has been charged with felony perjury after investigators discovered the process server lied on legal paperwork, indicating she appropriately served a Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson soldier who had moved out of state months earlier.
Thirty-five-year-old Donna Curtis faces a single perjury charge for the alleged crime.
The Alaska Bureau of Investigation began looking into criminal allegations lodged at Curtis in mid-January. According to an Alaska State Troopers dispatch, 18 complaints have been made to the troopers about Curtis improperly serving court documents -- to give notice of legal actions like a lawsuit -- while operating her business.
Curtis is the owner and operator of A1 Process Service. The state's Department of Commerce lists the alleged perjurer as the sole proprietor of A1. The department issued her business license in February 2009.
Despite the multiple accusations, she currently faces just one serious charge. According to the investigating troopers' affidavit, on May 10, 2013, Curtis returned a notarized and signed affidavit to the Anchorage court. In the legal document, she allegedly claimed to have served a female JBER soldier for a small claims lawsuit.
It turned out the soldier transferred out of state, on military orders, in August 2012. The investigator wrote that she spoke with the new tenant of the soldier's former home and phoned the female solider. Both said they'd never been served.
Clint Campion, deputy district attorney with the Anchorage DA's office, said he could not comment because he hadn't yet examined the facts of the case. He said it's possible for perjury like Curtis' to negatively impact the legal party she was supposed to be informing, but that is not the basis of the charge.
The Alaska Court of Appeals has said it's a serious offense to lie under oath, and oftentimes perjury cases are used to deter others from lying, according to Campion.
"People must understand there's a realistic threat of prosecution if they lie under oath; otherwise it really doesn't mean anything," he said.
Perjury, a class B felony, carries a jail sentence of up to 10 years.
On Tuesday, Anchorage district court issued a $250 arrest warrant for Curtis. Troopers say she was located and arrested without incident and taken to the city's jail. She bonded out of jail the same day.
An out-of-custody arraignment is set for Feb. 18.
Contact Jerzy Shedlock at jerzy(at)alaskadispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter @jerzyms.