Man charged with running fake law office

GRANDVIEW, Mo. -- A Missouri man has been charged with impersonating a lawyer and running a fake law office out of a Grandview home.

Reginald Taylor, 40, has been charged with forgery and practicing law without a license, the Kansas City Star reported.

Authorities said court clerks became suspicious after a check Taylor wrote to pay a client's fine in Grandview bounced.

Court documents said when a court supervisor tried to call Taylor about the check, she reached a lawn-care business. The woman who answered the phone turned out to be Taylor's mother.

Court documents show court staff checked Taylor's credentials and found he allegedly provided Missouri Bar credentials belonging to an attorney in Columbia. A court administrator said Taylor had done the same thing in Blue Springs, Missouri.

Taylor's client in the Grandview case said he lived with Taylor, according to police.

The man hired Taylor to represent him in court, saying he was under the assumption Taylor was an attorney because he had seen him meet with other clients. He said Taylor also had a framed law degree.

A Facebook page created in May 2013 advertised the Law Offices of Reginald Taylor as a "general law firm providing help to those in need" of services related to personal injury, construction accidents, contracts and drunken-driving cases.

Taylor's lawyer declined to comment on the case.

Police found Taylor had a criminal record dating to 1999, with convictions for fraud, forgery, drug possession and auto theft.