Local lawyer charged with forgery

Getting a divorce was hard enough but what happened after Ray Batiato thought it was over, was even harder.

It started with an e-mail from the daughter of who he thought was his ex-wife. "She questioned how I could be divorced without her knowing about it," Batiato said. "And I told her that I would get her a copy of the divorce decree."

So Ray called the Montgomery County court house. It was be easy enough to get another copy from the court, so he thought. Batiato says he told the clerk he was divorced. He even had the paperwork to prove it. But it turns out the paperwork he was holding was never filed in court.

It looked official. His final decree of divorce was dated August 2007, signed by a judge and sealed by the court but none of it was true.

Ray points out the decree is also signed by the lawyer he paid seven hundred fifty dollars to handle the divorce. Gerard Marks, attorney at law. 10 On Your Side went to the address on record with the Virginia State Bar to ask Marks about Batiato's divorce. It's now another business. Mark's hasn't been here for more than a year. His most recent office at Oak Tree Park is no longer there either. We also went to Marks home. No one came to the door. Marks not only handles divorce cases but property issues and adoptions.

Batiato tells 10 On Your Side he has no reason to believe he's the only person this happened to. "I don't know whether I'm the only person," he said. "There {are} probably others."

Batiato might be right. Our investigation has been going on for more than two months and we now now we weren't the only ones looking into the lawyer. Just unsealed court documents show a grand jury indictment of Marks. There are twenty one charges spelled out. Marks is accused of forging documents for land agreements, Batiato's divorce as well as another and forging documents for two adoptions. There are eleven charges of forgery and ten charges of uttering which is passing off the documents to someone. The indictment shows the alleged charges took place between January of 1999 and September of 2007.

Batiato is still struggling after he says forged documents were passed off to him. "It's been difficult. It was even more difficult than going through it the first time. His actions or inactions, have caused a lot of grief."

He just wonders, why? Batiato says Marks went through all the motions as if he was actually doing his divorce. "He walked me through a divorce without ever doing anything. He would tell me he had spoken with or served, what I thought was my ex-wife, with a, with the papers in Arizona."

We also uncovered a suspension order from the state bar, prohibiting Marks from practicing law since December of last year. The bar can't comment on the case but on-line records show a misconduct hearing will be scheduled.

In the meantime, a warning for people who hired marks. Prosecutors say there could be more victims but because documents were not filed properly, there's nothing for investigators to go back and look for.

Batiato says he's glad he stumbled along his. "I guess my advice would be to anyone who had Mr.. Marks for an attorney to look at their paperwork, check with the county, state, federal whatever jurisdiction that paperwork fell under. And to make sure it was properly recorded and documented."

Advice to help potential victims, like Batiato who found out sooner, rather than later, he's still a married man.

Botetourt County Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom was appointed special prosecutor in the Marks case. He says the felony charges carry a maximum of ten years in prison, if convicted.

Marks' next court appearance is May 16th.