Duncan woman wanted for false notarization allegations

DUNCAN — A Stephens County woman is wanted for a felony arrest warrant for allegations of filing a false notarization of a home warranty deed.

The Stephens County District Court issued the felony arrest warrant Thursday for Tambra Hutchins, 62, of Duncan, for a count of perjury, records indicate. The crime is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Stephens County Sheriff’s Investigator Leslie Richardson stated the investigation began June 7 when a married couple reported the woman’s father filed their house deed in his name and had his girlfriend, Hutchins, notarize the document, the warrant affidavit states. The father had sold the property to his daughter in 2021. While looking up her husband through online court records, she said, she saw her father’s name was on her home’s deed.

The woman went to the county assessor’s office and found she and her husband’s signatures weren’t on the warranty deed and they hadn’t signed the property back to her father, the affidavit states. She noticed Hutchins notarized the deed on Feb. 3.

Richardson spoke with Hutchins and she said her boyfriend’s daughter and son-in-law had signed the deed in front of her on Feb. 3. The investigator noted both of their signatures appeared to have been written by the same person, according to the affidavit. The daughter and son-in-law made sworn statements they’d never used Hutchins as their notary.

A copy of the deed was given to Richardson as well as a quit claim deed filed by Hutchins’ boyfriend on June 1. He’d told the County Clerk’s Office it was a family transfer, the affidavit states.

In a follow-up attempt to interview Hutchins, Richardson stated, she said “she was not going to answer anymore questions without a lawyer,” according to the affidavit. There was no luck in getting Hutchins’ boyfriend to answer questions, according to Richardson.