May 20, 2009

From: StarTribune.com

A Brooklyn Center man who served papers notifying people of lawsuits against them lied about completing the notifications for 13 people, leaving them facing default judgments for cases they didn't know about, according to criminal charges.

Angus McEachern, 23, was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court with 13 counts of perjury. The court vacated 186 default judgments in response to the allegations. Default judgments are entered against civil defendants who fail to respond to a lawsuit.

McEachern told investigators that he signed about 200 false affidavits during the six months he was employed by Major Legal Professional Process Serving in 2008, the charges said.

In one case, McEachern signed an affidavit saying that he had served a person in Inver Grove Heights on March 29, 2008, when the person had actually died on March 1, according to the charges. In some of the other cases, the people who McEachern claimed he had served were in another state, at work or in prison.

He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000 for each count of perjury.

LORA PABST