Cops: Fake lawyer, daughter demanded $10K from witness

Charges include threats against alleged victims.

A woman charged with pretending to be a lawyer and submitting false immigration documents has now been charged with threatening one of her alleged victims.

Melva Washington, 60, was charged with two counts of first-degree forgery, four counts of false statements and writings and three counts of unauthorized practice of a law profession on March 28. Now Washington and her daughter Elizabeth Cannon-Washington are both charged with a count of terroristic threats and a count of influencing witnesses.

Cannon-Washington contacted a witness in her mother’s case after her mother’s arrest, Gwinnett County police said. Cannon-Washington threatened him to not speak to the police or provide testimony in the case, the witness told police. Washington had told her daughter to “place fear in the witness” and demand he pay $10,000 towards her bond, according to police.

Cannon-Washington has not been arrested and her whereabouts are unknown.

Washington’s initial arrest came after multiple alleged victims told police that Washington had acted as an immigration lawyer on their behalf, scamming them out of money and submitting forged documents to the government.

Gwinnett County police ask anyone who may have been a victim of Washington to contact the department at 770-513-5300.

Anyone who knows Cannon-Washington’s whereabouts should also contact Gwinnett County police at the same number, or via Crime Stoppers at 404-5778477. Crime Stoppers tips can be made anonymously and can be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000.