Indictments allege land deed forgery

Brown also faces charges connected with incidents of witness corruption

Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

Daniel Jason Brown, 31, of Leonardtown faces 64 charges connected with four alleged incidents of property deed forgery and six charges connected with an alleged incident of witness corruption.

Brown's attorney, Robert Harvey Jr. of Prince Frederick, argued that his client was not a flight risk and asked the court to grant bond.

Assistant State's Attorney Daniel White said that five witnesses will testify that Brown tried to influence them during court cases, allegedly going so far as to steal their mail.

"Lo and behold, on one of our search warrants, we find their mail" in Brown's possession, White told the court. "This is a much different case than Mr. Harvey thinks it is."

White also alleged that Brown is in possession of property that he acquired with stolen deeds and urged the court to force Brown to post a cash bond, rather than one backed by property. The land, White said, "in our opinion, is a proceed of those crimes."

Judge C. Clarke Raley imposed a $50,000 cash bond, stating, "We have no prediction of what the future holds."

After the hearing, Harvey said he is still reviewing the state's case, but said, "We're grateful that the judge has authorized bond."

St. Mary's detectives arrested Brown last week and searched a car owned by Mattingly outside a California restaurant. White declined Thursday to discuss any possible further arrests in the investigation.

Mattingly earlier filed a lawsuit that included search warrant papers from a police raid last September at a house owned by his mother and occupied by Brown.

In that lawsuit, Mattingly, a Democratic candidate in next year's election for state's attorney, is seeking the return of his client files seized from the house in the lawsuit accusing the incumbent state's attorney, Richard Fritz, his assistant, Daniel White, and the police investigators of carrying out the raid as an act of political retaliation.

The state's attorney's office has staunchly denied Mattingly's accusation. According to prosecutors, the sheriff's office launched the investigation in January of 2008.

Mattingly said in a recent interview that he has committed no criminal wrongdoing, and Brown recently said he previously has made it clear that he did not want to do anything outside the law.

The search warrant application, included in Mattingly's lawsuit, contains detectives' affidavits stating that a suspect in an assault case provided $20,000 cash in 2007 to Mattingly's office, which another lawyer told investigators was used to attempt to bribe a witness.

The search warrant application also refers to ongoing investigations of the notarizing of real-estate transactions involving Brown and Mattingly's corporation, Graydon Sears LLC in Leonardtown.

The charges unsealed Thursday allege that land deeds notarized and recorded were fraudulent.

Some of the indictments name a Washington, D.C. notary in the fraudulent notarization of three transactions, one of which, according to state land records, involved a 1.1 acre property in Scotland being sold to Graydon Sears for a recorded price of $10.

Prosecutors say they plan to ask for $1 million in restitution for the alleged crimes.

jfriess@somdnews.com