LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A Lake County woman says she was scammed by a fake paralegal and now she’s out hundreds of dollars.
"I feel so ashamed," said Angela Sloan, as she showed the divorce papers she thought had been filed at the Lake County Courthouse. Turns out they never were.
Sloan says she had hired a woman she found on Facebook, named Lisa Ottoman, who claimed she was a paralegal and could take care of her divorce filing for $700. What Sloan did not know is that Ottoman had recently changed her name, and had served time in prison.
Marion County deputies arrested Ottoman, 45, on Sept. 11, after a Clermont man came forward claiming she did something similar to him. Ottoman is currently in the Lake County Jail on a $2,000 bond.
Sloan said she wants Ottoman to stay behind bars.
"I've cried for three days," Sloan said. "Almost had a nervous breakdown. But I'm going to make it because she's a criminal, I'm not."
Other victims who have come forward to News 6 say Ottoman claimed she was a paralegal at Hope Legal Secretarial Services and advertised on both Google and on Facebook.
"She sounded and looked legit," Sloan said. "And she kept on telling me she would be sitting right beside me in the courtroom, that she had pull here at the Lake County courthouse."
According to her criminal background, Ottoman -- who also goes by the name Lisa Scanlon, Lisa Miller, Lisa Platt, Lisa Eneix and Lisa Vanolden -- has courthouse experience with Sarasota, Manatee and Pinnellas counties for her convictions for grand larceny and writing bad checks.
She was convicted and sentenced to less than two years in prison in 2007 and then again in 2015.
"After she was released, she definitely went back to the life of crime she knew," Clermont Police Capt. Michael McMaster said.
Clermont police said Ottoman charged $180 to file court papers in a child custody case.
More than a month later, the victim in that case discovered Ottoman never did the work so she started warning others on Facebook.
That's where half dozen people came forward saying they, too, had fallen for the legal aid scam.
"Of course there are other victims that have not said anything for whatever reason so those are really the people who need to come forward," McMaster said.
Sloan said when she asked Ottoman for her money back, she was given several excuses for why the work was not performed.
"She's like, 'Oh, I've got leukemia, and I'm in the hospital, and I've got heart problems,'" Sloan said. "This went on and on. She knew exactly how to present it to me so I would feel sorry for her and she knew I would fall for it."
Sloan said Ottoman eventually stopped answering her calls altogether.
"She's got my money I don't have any money," Sloan said. "So now I'm going to have to find someone pro bono who is going to be willing to help me out."
News 6 went searching for Ottoman at three of her last known addresses, but no one answered the door and the phone number she had listed on Google for her business now rings to a complete stranger.
We even reached out to Lisa Ottoman on her Facebook page but have not yet heard back.
All Sloan wants is for someone to help her with her divorce, and for Ottoman to be prosecuted for taking her hard-earned cash.
"I'd have never dealt with her had I known," Sloan said.
There are currently two civil cases against Ottoman in Lake and Marion counties.
Authorities are asking anyone who has had any recent contact with Ottoman for legal services to come forward and file a report at their local police station or sheriff’s office.