Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — A notary in Playa del Carmen has been shut after its owner was stripped of his appointment and charged. Ex-notary Israel Canto Viana, head of Public Notary 102, was charged for falsifying documents used to strip a woman of her property.
Canto Viana was charged December 15, 2021 for allegedly creating an apocryphal deed with false passports used to strip a Tulum woman of her property. It wasn’t until December 29 that state governor, Carlos Joaquin, officially revoked his title as notary.
During their investigations, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) discovered four passports that the Ministry of Foreign Relations described as false. During the December 15 hearing, Canto Viana was also found to have used false documents from a shell company to claim the coastal property located in the municipality of Tulum.
It was in January of 2021, when armed men arrived at the Punta Solimán property with apocryphal documents from notary Israel Canto Padilla in a bid to take it over. However, police were called and the armed men fled, but not before three were arrested.
They continue to be held in a Playa del Carmen jail on charges of aggravated theft and dispossession.
