LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- A Las Vegas judge recused herself from a case against a woman accused of pretending to be an attorney, accepting money from clients and forging judges' signatures, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned.
Las Vegas Metro police arrested Cenia Poulsen, 36, on Tuesday after a nearly six-month investigation. Poulsen was never a licensed attorney in Nevada.
In one incident, Poulsen is accused of using the death of the late Judge Melanie Tobiasson as an excuse for delayed paperwork. Tobiasson died by suicide in January of 2023. She had previously resigned after an ethics probe.
"There's a lot of cases that come before me that I find to be offensive and I get past it, but there's somebody that she references in this case that was a colleague of mine and uses that colleague's death as an excuse for a continuance to commit fraud upon on another person," Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Amy Chelini said Tuesday before recusing herself from the case.
Poulsen posed as an attorney since at least January 2022, police said, filing fraudulent documents for cases including divorces, name changes and adoptions with the Eighth Judicial District Court in Las Vegas. She also created fake emails from current judges, fraudulently signed judges' and clients' names, and used fake filing stamps on documents, police according to police.
Attorney Ofelia Markarian said that she learned Poulsen had impersonated her and created fake divorce documents for a client who had planned to remarry.
"She's a scammer. She's a liar," Markarian told the 8 News Now Investigators.
Markarian said that she fixed the divorce case pro bono, meaning free of charge, for the client.
The 8 News Now Investigators have learned Poulsen is married to a Las Vegas Metro police officer.
Poulsen faces 17 charges including forgery, theft, preparing/delivering a person-simulated legal document, and offering false instruments for public office filing. Poulsen has gone by the names Cenia Delpozo and Cenia Carillo.
Poulsen is scheduled to appear in front of a different judge on Thursday morning.
Metro police were asking anyone who may have had legal work processed by Poulsen to call (702) 828-3251.