LAS VEGAS, Nevada – A Las Vegas judge has recused herself from a case involving a woman who allegedly posed as an attorney, accepted money from clients, and forged judges’ signatures. The woman, Cenia Poulsen, was arrested by Las Vegas Metro police after a six-month investigation. It was discovered that Poulsen was never licensed as an attorney in Nevada.
One instance of alleged fraud involved Poulsen using the death of a former colleague, the late Judge Melanie Tobiasson, as an excuse for delayed paperwork. Tobiasson had resigned after an ethics probe and died by suicide in January 2023.
Judge Amy Chelini of the Las Vegas Justice Court expressed her disgust with Poulsen’s actions, stating, “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 another person.” As a result of her concerns, Chelini recused herself from the case.
Police investigations revealed that Poulsen had been posing as an attorney since at least January 2022. She filed fraudulent documents for various cases, including divorces, name changes, and adoptions, with the Eighth Judicial District Court in Las Vegas. Poulsen also created fake emails from current judges, forged judges’ and clients’ signatures, and used counterfeit filing stamps on documents.
Attorney Ofelia Markarian discovered that Poulsen had impersonated her and created fake divorce documents for one of Markarian’s clients who had planned to remarry. Markarian described Poulsen as a scammer and a liar. However, she fixed the divorce case pro bono for the client.
It is worth noting that Poulsen is married to a Las Vegas Metro police officer.
Poulsen is now facing 17 charges, including forgery, theft, and offering false instruments for public office filing. She has used the names Cenia Delpozo and Cenia Carillo.
Poulsen is scheduled to appear in front of a different judge on Thursday morning. Las Vegas Metro police have urged anyone who had legal work processed by Poulsen to contact them.
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