A San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the city to stop Lacayo & Associates from providing "fraudulent immigration services."For years, San Francisco public notary Leo Lacayo has been the focus of investigations by the city attorney's office.
Norberto Molina said he was a victim of Lacayo in 2016 when he paid him thousands of dollars hoping to get legal aid in the U.S.Attorney Pilar Eslava with community-based legal organization, La Raza Centro Legal has been picking up the pieces of cases like Norberto's. "In the U.S., a notary could be anybody. You don't have to have a bachelor degree to be a notary in the United States, but these people don't know that. These people when they hear the word notary they think it's somebody that is a specialist in law," said Eslava.
We went to Lacayo's office and were told he was out. On the phone, he said the allegations were "garbage" and sarcastically laughed about not showing up to court.Esalava hopes the city goes beyond a second motion.