Case against local notary moving forward
The case against a Warren County woman and notary charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from employers and clients is moving forward.
The attorney representing Brenda L. Gibson, 58, of Pittsfield, was in court on Friday for two motions.
Gibson is charged with two counts of theft by unlawful taking, two counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, and two counts of receiving stolen property for allegedly not properly submitting payment of more than $420,000 from over 700 clients in her job as a notary, and charging them over $40,000 for services she allegedly did not render.
At a previous docket, Gibson faces 13 felonies and three misdemeanors related to allegations that she stole $134,000 from Dyke’s Garage in Bear Lake, where she was employed for 16 years, and $325,000 from Deerfield Township, where she had been secretary/treasurer for six years.
On Friday, her attorney, Stephen Sebald, and deputy Attorney General Heather Serrano, were in court before President Judge Maureen Skerda.
At issue were two motions — one for a competency hearing for Gibson and another for bail modification.
With respect to competency, Skerda told Sebald the name of a doctor who does “incarcerated competency evaluations.”
Sebald said he would move forward with scheduling an evaluation.
He asked to continue the motion for bail modification until both sets of charges reach the court of common pleas. The charges in the most recent docket — related to her job as notary — are still at the magisterial level.
Monetary bail in the amount of $250,000 was set on each docket.
According to court documents, a settlement conference is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, June 13, and calendar call — for scheduling a trial, if needed — is set for 9 a.m. Monday, June 27.


