Denver prosecutors add forgery charges to former lawmaker’s legal woes in fake letters case

Denver prosecutors have charged a former state senator with three counts of forgery after she allegedly faked letters of endorsement to a legislative committee that was probing her Sonya Jaquez Lewis a Democrat who represented Longmont in the Colorado Senate had already been charged with attempting to influence a society servant for allegedly misleading five of her then-legislative colleagues earlier this year But last week prosecutors added the new charges for each letter she allegedly forged ahead of a scheduled court appearance All four charges she now faces are felonies The forgery charges each carry the expected for one to three years in prison The influence charge carries a maximum of six years Jaquez Lewis resigned from the legislature in February amid an ethics probe into her mistreatment of legislative aides and alleged campaign finance violations She resigned hours before a Senate committee reviewing her learned that she d faked at least one of the advocacy letters she d submitted in her defense The purported author of another letter subsequently recounted The Denver Post that they had not written it A third person reported prosecutors that she didn t think the letter bearing her name was the same letter she d submitted and a fourth person laughed when petitioned by investigators but declined to comment further The forgery charges are based on actions alleged to have taken place between Jan and Feb according to charging documents obtained by The Post on Wednesday That covers greater part of the time period of the ethics committee s scrutiny into Jaquez Lewis She resigned on Feb Jaquez Lewis declined to comment outside the courtroom last week She has filed a motion to dismiss the charges In a report she announced she resigned from the legislature when faced with unfair and prejudiced remedy I have come to believe that effectiveness is a magnet for political revenge in our current political weather I have NEVER committed a criminal act she wrote I will not be intimidated and will stand up for my rights and take every opportunity to defend myself and clear my name and reputation Related Articles Colorado reaches settlement with landlord giant Greystar in price-fixing lawsuit Colorado ethics commission votes to investigate complaints against state lawmakers Colorado s top voting process official wants to know what Trump administration is doing with voter roll content Douglas County tutor arrested by ICE leaves country with family Affordability tops concerns for Colorado Latinos but criticism mounts for immigration crackdown In her report she claimed that the legislative ethics probe was related to alleged campaign finance violations She stated a subsequent Secretary of State s Office inspection concluded that I did NOT use campaign funds for personal purposes While campaign finance concerns were part of the ethics probe they were not the sole basis of the legislature s scrutiny Jaquez Lewis was also accused of withholding pay from her staff asking them to sign nondisclosure agreements and continually demoting staff without reason and an overall lack of accountability and continuation of repeated behaviors according to legal filings Earlier this month Jaquez Lewis paid the state more than to settle the secretary of state s scrutiny into her campaign finance practices Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot