ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — An attorney who investigators say gave a client a forged divorce paper and then offered her money to withdraw a complaint against him has been charged with three counts of forgery and one count of bribery.
A Hawkins County grand jury on Monday charged Daniel Boyd, 47, with the forgery and bribery counts as well as one count of criminal simulation, according to a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) news release. Boyd also serves as the Juvenile Court Judge for Hawkins County.
Boyd had been under investigation since May, when Third Judicial District Attorney General Dan Armstrong requested another office look into allegations of forgery and bribery.
Second District Attorney General Barry Staubus took over the case after Armstrong requested an outside DA assume the case.
According to the release, investigators learned Boyd provided a client with a default judgment declaring her divorce to be finalized.
A grand jury presentment states that Boyd presented a forged divorce decree Oct. 7, 2022. The second forgery count says he executed a document “so that it purported to be the act of Hawkins County Chancellor, Douglas Jenkins.”
The third forgery count charges that Boyd also produced a document that he claimed “to be the act of Hawkins County Clerk & Master Brent Price.”
“The document appeared to be signed by the Chancellor of the 3rd Judicial District,” the release states, but “further investigation revealed that no document existed within the Clerk and Master’s Office and that the case was never presented to the Chancellor.”
Agents also found that “when Boyd’s client filed a complaint, he offered her money if she would withdraw the complaint.”
Boyd was booked at the Hawkins County Jail and released in lieu of $25,000 bond.
