Confederacy of Dunces

Like mother, like daughterIn a harebrained scheme probably concocted over too many cocktails, a mother-and-daughter team agreed to help a male acquaintance rob a bank in Martin, Tenn. Wearing dark sunglasses and a ridiculous gray wig fit for a grandma, 48-year-old Edward Tharpe strolled into a Regions Bank with a pistol and demanded cash. After the teller handed over a wad of money, the thief fled the bank and no one was injured. Waiting outside in the getaway car were Latonya Wilson, 22, and her proud mama, Pamela Wilson, 44. The crew headed to Nashville after the heist and checked into the Deluxe Inn on Dickerson Pike. Nashville police soon spotted the suspects’ car, and SWAT officers descended on the roach motel, where they arrested mother, daughter and family friend, shipping them back to Martin to face bank robbery charges. Bonnie and Clyde this crew is not.

Virula the virusThey present themselves to the immigrant community as quasi-lawyers and often claim to be authorized to help—for a fee—with immigration matters, tax forms and other government documents that they are not licensed to handle.

The results for their clients can be deportation, trouble with the IRS or worse.

These white-collar predators are called notarios, and south Nashville’s Elmer Virula has reached new levels of creative dishonesty for profit. He’s been rewarded for his efforts with a complaint from the state attorney general’s office and a string of unhappy clients.

The complaint says that Virula holds himself out as a lawyer—he isn’t—and tells clients that he can “fix” immigration problems—he can’t. While this is SOP for notarios, Virula’s method for leaving clients SOL is unique. He would tell undocumented immigrants that for between $300 and $1,000 he could marry them to an American citizen and make their immigration problems disappear. Problem is, Virula isn’t licensed to marry anyone. He pretended to get around this pesky problem by issuing marriage certificates from the state of California, city of Los Angeles. He explained this to clients by saying he was an immigration attorney in California—which he isn’t—and then took their money without fixing their immigration status.

The scam also has jeopardized legitimate couples—who actually wanted to be man and wife—who now find themselves in “marriages” that aren’t legal. The attorney general recently notified victims that their marriages were not legally recognized in any state, no matter what their California marriage license issued in Virula’s Nolensville Pike office says.

These couples can always get legally married. But there’s an unnamed consumer mentioned in the complaint who will likely never get her $1,590 back. That’s the amount she gave the notario for help with her immigration status.

Virula also falsely claims to be a certified public accountant. One of his unfortunate clients now owes $7,000 to IRS because of “Virula’s misrepresentations,” says the attorney general’s complaint.

The state’s action effectively could shut down Virula’s operations—the office on Nolensville and one on Thompson Lane.