A Gillette, Wyoming, real estate broker who was accused of forging people’s signatures on real estate documents to scam extra commissions was acquitted Thursday, when the question of her guilt or innocence went to a judge.
Tami Hinson, 58, was charged a year ago with six felonies — three counts of forgery and three counts of identity theft — on claims she forged other real estate agents’ signatures to win higher commissioners for herself.
Had she been convicted, each charge could have carried a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
The parties in the case agreed to have a bench trial instead of a jury trial. That left the question of Hinson’s guilt or innocence to Campbell County District Court Judge Michael McGrady, instead of a jury of 12 community members.
McGrady found Hinson not guilty on all six counts after a three-day trial.
“The verdict speaks for itself,” Hinson’s attorney Ryan Healy told Cowboy State Daily on Friday. He declined to comment further.
Hinson did not immediately respond to a request for comment conveyed through her attorney.
Will Collier, a real estate agent who was one of the people whose signatures Hinson was accused of forging, said he just hopes to see more positive news about the real estate profession in the future.
“There’s a lot of hard-working real estate agents around here,” said Collier. “This story just brought a lot of negative attention towards real estate agents.”
Collier did not opine on whether he agreed with McGrady’s ruling. But he said he was curious about it.
“I have a lot of questions,” said Collier. “There were a lot of strong testimonies on the prosecution side, so I would be curious to understand how the judge came to his conclusion.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
