False justices performing weddings

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PJT

Silver
Jan 8, 2002
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Fabio,

There is a news article posted today, Feb. 8, within the online version of Diario Libre of a mafia of false justices performing weddings in Punta Cana,

Falsos jueces celebraban bodas en Punta Cana: JCE - DiarioLibre.com

The short form of the story is a mafia of people passing themselves off as civil officials and issuing false wedding and birth documents. It is suggested they were working in complicity with hoteliers in the Punta Cana area. Within the last few months at least 30 wedding petitions have been rejected because of the absence of civil officials and at least 20 Britons have demanded delivery of certificates.

What recourse does anybody (tourists) have regarding this mess, should they have been unknowing victims of this scam? Do they have recourse with any of the hoteliers if their wedding ceremonies had been prearranged and planned by the hotels?

What should anyone do if they do plan to get married in the D.R. in order to protect themselves from this sort of scam? Anything you can add?

Regards,
PJT
 
S

SamanaJon

New member
Jun 20, 2007
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Live by my motto, "Don't trust anyone". There are scams of all sorts here in the DR as in many other places. Not only in property transactions, but in every phase of life here on the Island. Fake permits of all sorts, fake VISAS, including DR Lawyers who never went to law school. It is amazing how things operate here, therefore step carefully with your eyes wide open and you may not be taken too badly. Concerning weddings at Resorts, the name of those Hotel/Resorts involved should be Black-Listed and not be permitted to perform any such activities in the future. After all, they are responsible for activities that take place on their property, are they not?
 
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The Virginian

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Mar 16, 2007
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I have friends coming here in June to get married at a local resort in POP. Their travel agent is working with the resort and organizing the wedding. How can they verify the people performing the wedding are licensed to do so? thanks
 
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dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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phil&gerry, if you want to help your friend you'd have to pop into one of the ofices of estado de civil (one on calle beller and one close to post office) they will give you ALL the info.
as soon as miesposo is back from NYC i will PM you with a name of trusted and 100% real judge who performed our ceremony.
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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This news broke on Thursday. It opens the door to a gazillion issues> people who think they are married and are not really, and the lawyers a just sitting there salivating. The lawsuits alone could well bankrupt a few hotel chains...

HB, stqying tuned to this one!!
 
Hlywud

Hlywud

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The biggest problem is these couples are at home, USA, England Canada or wherever and are waiting for their marriage certificate, they have paid large amount of money to get married in the DR and really are not officially hitched.

They also would not know how to go about starting a suit against the fraudulent resorts.
 
P

PJT

Silver
Jan 8, 2002
3,568
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The culture of the press here is: a traffic accident with death or injury, there will be bloody photos of the victims and information on the vehicles involved to include year, make, color, and plate number; on the other hand, criminal negligence on the part of a resort, one is lucky to get a region where it is located for fear the report may damage the resort's reputation or insult some VIP's integrity, which in turn which would exact some form of retaliation against the press.

PJT will keep his ear to the ground to obtain verifiable information of the resorts involved in the wedding scam.

Regards,
PJT
 
K

KateP

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May 28, 2004
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It is important to state that in many cases the hotels were not aware of what was going on. How do I know that? Because I myself organize weddings in a resort and we were just as surprised as everyone else when we found out (thank god I didn't have any cases!!). Yes, it is a very uncomfortable situation many people are in but it is not in all cases that the hotels were involved in the scam. Just imagine, some of the hotels host 10-15 weddings a WEEK (some more). It's a bit hard to believe they would get into that type of situation, knowing it would lead to lawsuits from many of the their clients...

From what we've heard, things are now getting reorganized and the Oficial?a has its hands full trying to get all the certificates out but in many cases they're missing some documents which is complicating the process. Hopefully they'll have everything up and running smoothly in a few months with their new office.
 
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Fiesta Mama

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Jan 28, 2004
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KateP said:
It is important to state that in many cases the hotels were not aware of what was going on. How do I know that? Because I myself organize weddings in a resort and we were just as surprised as everyone else when we found out (thank god I didn't have any cases!!).
Click to expand...

With respect, I personally feel it is TOTALLY the fault of the involved hotels. When you offer a service to people coming from other countries (or even locals), an international hotel chain needs to be able to stand behind its services. It is their job to be aware of what is going on and it is the responsibility of the hotel to make sure they duly investigate the people they are using to perform such services. I would also consider someone like yourself responsible as I would want to make sure that the people you work with to plan the wedding are upstanding locals. I got married in Sosua in 2005 and did not get married at a resort because when doing my research I was told by some resorts I would not need my documents translated into Spanish and others told me I did not need witness and that we would not get our marriage certificate back before I left to return to Canada. The Justice of the Peace in Sosua told me I would need all of the these things and would get my wedding certificate before returning to Canada a week later. I felt safer doing it that way.
 
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KateP

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May 28, 2004
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Fiesta Mama said:
With respect, I personally feel it is TOTALLY the fault of the involved hotels. When you offer a service to people coming from other countries (or even locals), an international hotel chain needs to be able to stand behind its services. It is their job to be aware of what is going on and it is the responsibility of the hotel to make sure they duly investigate the people they are using to perform such services. I would also consider someone like yourself responsible as I would want to make sure that the people you work with to plan the wedding are upstanding locals. I got married in Sosua in 2005 and did not get married at a resort because when doing my research I was told by some resorts I would not need my documents translated into Spanish and others told me I did not need witness and that we would not get our marriage certificate back before I left to return to Canada. The Justice of the Peace in Sosua told me I would need all of the these things and would get my wedding certificate before returning to Canada a week later. I felt safer doing it that way.
Click to expand...

I understand how black and white this must seem to someone who doesn't work in the business. The reality was that there was only 1 judge authorized to do all the legal weddings in the area (Higuey, Punta Cana and Bavaro) and he bamboozled us all. He really was the authorized person to perform all these weddings, but the detail is that some he declared, others he falsified and kept all the money. He was very careful about the way he worked and I honestly don't know how what he was doing came to light but thank god someone realized what was happening.
 
L

Lambada

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KateP said:
I understand how black and white this must seem to someone who doesn't work in the business. The reality was that there was only 1 judge authorized to do all the legal weddings in the area (Higuey, Punta Cana and Bavaro) and he bamboozled us all. He really was the authorized person to perform all these weddings, but the detail is that some he declared, others he falsified and kept all the money. He was very careful about the way he worked and I honestly don't know how what he was doing came to light but thank god someone realized what was happening.
Click to expand...

I thought the figure of 200 weddings in a day sounded a bit unreal but now I know there was only one judge.........downright impossible!

On a serious note, since he was the authorised person & since couples wouldn't know, after the wedding, whether he declared them or not is it likely that there are a whole lot more tourists out there operating in blissful ignorance? For example, if they didn't bother to get their marriage legalised back in their countries of origin, how would they know whether they're in the declared or undeclared group? Should anyone who married in this area be asking questions?
 
C

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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Today's papers are saying that it was a number of JCE employees from Higuey. It's going to be a serious problem for the Dominican tourist industry if/when it hits the international media.
 
E

El sabelot?

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Jan 7, 2008
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I'm calling some friends in Higuey (ex-judge, fiscalizador, and JCE folks) to get the "word on the street."
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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The deal is that people with the lingo, workers for the Civil Registry Office, with fake books and certificates, did the dirty deed...
A wedding only takes a few minutes and another 15 between hotels, you can do 10 or 15 a day....I can see 200 a day...

HB
 
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