Woman arrested for impersonating an attorney, string of alleged crimes in her wake – The Big Bend Sentinel

TRI-COUNTY — A Marfa woman arrested Friday and charged with impersonating a local attorney is also under scrutiny from police and others for allegedly lying in court filings during her eviction proceedings, forging the name of another attorney, identity theft and hacking into a co-worker’s computer. 

Marfa police officers arrested Sarah Lagrange Schutz, 41, of Marfa on two counts of online impersonation. She was released Saturday on a $8,000 bond. Penalties for the charges range from a third-degree felony to a Class A misdemeanor.

The charges were sparked by a conflict between Schutz and her landlord, Natania Frydman, who ultimately filed eviction papers on August 15 after Schutz was behind two payments on her rent. Attorney Liz Rogers represented Frydman in the proceedings and contended that Schutz is trying to retaliate against Frydman.

Rogers confirmed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) that someone filed a complaint against Frydman for offering wellness services without a proper license, but the agency wouldn’t reveal the complainant’s name.

A friend and former co-worker of Schutz’s from Louisiana then supplied Rogers with text messages Schutz had sent him. The Big Bend Sentinel obtained a portion of those messages, which were included as justification for probable cause in the warrant for Schutz’s arrest. When the friend asked who filed the complaint with TDLR, Schutz responded: “I did — and I said my name was Liz Rogers. Her lawyer and I’m reporting her [to] the Texas Attorney board for her ugly ways.” The friend asked not to be named for privacy reasons.

The discovery led Rogers to file the impersonation complaint with the Marfa Police Department, which then issued an arrest warrant for Schutz and took her into custody on Friday.

In a phone interview Sunday, Schutz said she never filed a complaint against Frydman and never used Liz Rogers’ name for any reason. She then qualified that answer and said, “I may have. I don’t remember. If that’s what the texts you have say.”

Many of the allegations began to unwind when Frydman filed eviction papers after Schutz was two $1,200 payments behind on rent for the Gonzales Street home. Evidence presented by Frydman and her attorney Rogers in an eviction hearing show ongoing text messages between landlord and tenant — Frydman offering sympathy and a myriad of payment arrangements for Schutz, who said she was in dire straits after leaving her primary job in June. “We gotta be there for each other in trying times,” Frydman initially wrote to Schutz on July 14. 

In those texts, Schutz further explained that she “had to quit” her primary job in June as director of a mental health program for seniors — Senior Life Solutions — at the Big Bend Regional Medical Center in Alpine. Schutz has a long history in healthcare and is also a licensed registered nurse who formerly worked in a burn unit at a hospital in Lafayette, Louisiana. 

Schutz told Frydman in the texts that she was in and out of the hospital (including the Intensive Care Unit) in Odessa for a bacterial infection in her eye that required three surgeries and left her disoriented and in pain. “I can mail you the cash if you would like to send me an address due to the fact the doctor is keeping me in the hospital tonight and possibly tomorrow to receive IV antibiotics,” Schutz wrote. The cash never came.

At one point, Frydman was under the impression that a friend of Schutz’s had stepped in. “This is Jenny, a close friend of Sarah’s from Louisiana,” an August text to Frydman said. “I meant to text you yesterday but it has been a lot of information and things to process.” 

The friend said that Schutz had just gotten out of the third surgery, but had developed a blood infection because the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) –– the particularly nasty strain of bacteria she was battling –– traveled to her blood, leaving her bed bound and lethargic. 

Schutz sent Frydman several photos — also included in court filings — that showed an immensely swollen and discolored eyelid. “[The doctors] are letting her go back and forth at this point so she isn’t having to stay in the hospital but we go every other day almost,” one text to Frydman read. 

The Big Bend Sentinel called the number “Jenny” texted from, but it resulted in a constant busy signal and was not associated with any name in public phone listings. No one responded to follow-up texts sent to the number by press time. 

Schutz’s Louisiana friend who asked not to be named claims the eye infection story is false. The friend, also a nurse who worked with Schutz in Lafayette, stayed with Schutz at the Marfa rental house during the period some of the texts were sent to Frydman and said Schutz had no problems with her eye and never went to the hospital. He said he was positive he recognized the photos and that they were actually from an infection Schutz had three or four years earlier in Louisiana.

Rogers also said staff at the St. George Hotel in Marfa — where Schutz worked two days a week as a bartender — told her that Schutz did not miss any shifts during that time.

Schutz told The Sentinel the eye infection was real and that it looked like the photos she sent in late July but that antibiotics had cleared it up quickly.

On August 6, Schutz filed a “Hardship Extension” to preempt any eviction process, and she cited the eye infection and other hardships in an affidavit to the court. The affidavit was signed by “D. Smith,” an attorney that Schutz previously mentioned that Frydman would be hearing from. Rogers told The Sentinel that it was clear that something was amiss with the attorney’s signature and another signature from a witness –– she thought they both appeared to be signed by the same person.

Rogers said she called a D. Smith, a Lafayette attorney, because a previous text message to Frydman from Schutz mentioned a “DWA Smith,” and a search of Lafayette lawyers resulted in a Dwazendra Smith, who went by D. Smith. Smith told Rogers she knew Schutz but maintained that she was not a client, and she never signed any documents related to the eviction proceedings. She also told Rogers that she intended to file a complaint with Lafayette police for Schutz’s actions forging her name. Smith did not return phone calls and emails from The Sentinel requesting comment by press time. 

Schutz said Sunday that Rogers had contacted the wrong D. Smith and should have instead contacted Deidre Smith of Memphis, Tennessee. Schutz said she would provide contact information to the attorney, who was out on maternity leave and might be hard to reach. She later said that she would instead relay The Sentinel’s contact information to Smith, who “didn’t seem super comfortable with me just giving out her personal information.”

The only Deidre Smith listed by the Tennessee bar is inactive, 73 years old, and is not licensed to practice law in Texas, according to the Texas State Bar Association. The Louisiana bar lists no Deidre Smith.

A “Dee Smith,” who said she is an attorney, eventually contacted The Sentinel Tuesday morning to say she was representing Schutz and called her arrest a “scandalous, extreme, ridiculous situation.” However, she said she could not talk until after the deadline for this story. No “Dee Smith” could be found with law licenses in Tennessee, Texas or Louisiana, and the texting phone number did not associate with any listings. The phone number from that text is not associated with any phone listings.

At a hearing before Presidio County Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Dina Jo Marquez on August 26, Marquez ruled in Frydman’s favor in the eviction case and required Schutz to pay rent owed and $3,500 in attorney fees.

However, Schutz appealed that ruling to Presidio County Court. She sought an exemption for court costs, explaining that she was broke because she had to put down a $4,000 retainer to hire an attorney — D. Smith — to file a lawsuit against her former employer in Alpine. (The Sentinel could not locate any Brewster County district court, county court or federal lawsuits from Schutz against her employer.)

Rogers said Schutz missed a deadline for a filing on her eviction appeal, and on Monday morning, Sept.30, Rogers went before County Judge Joe Portillo to move that the appeal be dismissed and that Schutz immediately vacate Frydman’s house. 

Schutz said she planned to be out of the house by midnight Monday and Rogers said Portillo deferred any action on the appeal until the court could see if Schutz vacated the house. Frydman verified Tuesday, Oct. 1, that a neighbor saw her leave the home.

Frydman said she was advised not to comment further about other allegations against Schutz. “I’m just grateful it’s coming to an end, and I can regain control over my house,” she said.

Strange screenshots leave Alpine woman without a job

Jennifer Pittinger, an Alpine woman, worked under Schutz at her former employer, the Senior Life Solutions program at BBRMC, which provided psychiatry and group therapy sessions for seniors. The program is run by PMC, a Tennessee-based company that provides mental health services around the country.

Pittinger said she and Schutz had minor conflicts in Pittinger’s short three months with the program — including an incident in May where she found a patient referral document and other reports that had been improperly altered by Schutz, which Pittinger reported to her PMC regional manager.

Those minor conflicts snowballed into a strange series of events that left both women jobless. On June 3, Pittinger said she found a card laying in their office with login information for a spyware program –– a website or software that can be used for tracking a person’s computer operations. The login information had a username that included Schutz’s name. 

Also written on the card was Pittinger’s computer password, which Pittinger said she never gave Schutz. She said she had only stored the password on a slip of paper in her desk drawer and it had gone missing. Pittinger said she immediately reported the card to the BBRMC information technology department. The IT department searched Pittinger’s computer and found spyware on her computer, likely allowing someone to see all her work and her email communications, Pittinger said.

Pittinger then informed PMC that the hospital IT department was looking through the hard drive of her computer and at the spyware card with Schutz’s name.

“I was blown away,” Pittinger said. “I’ve worked for years in healthcare, and I’ve never encountered something like this.” PMC then notified Pittinger on June 4 that Schutz “no longer worked for the company,” although Pittinger doesn’t know if Schutz was fired by PMC or if she was forced to resign, as Schutz later claimed in eviction court filings.  

Pittinger was shocked when PMC then put her on investigatory leave without pay for an undetermined amount of time. “I understood the premise, that they just needed some time to verify what happened in our office and look at my hard drive, and I was completely willing to help them.” 

Days turned to weeks with no pay and no concrete answers from PMC on what they were investigating, Pittinger said. On June 26, Pittinger had a meeting with PMC supervisors, who told her they had a screenshot of a Facebook message from her to a man named Marc. PMC managers refused to provide her with the screenshot, but said it was given to them by Schutz who told them it came from a text from an anonymous source.

Schutz ended up texting the screenshots and her correspondence with the anonymous texter to her Louisiana friend who provided them to The Sentinel. Pittinger believes Schutz fabricated the conversation and wrote the entire exchange.

“Hey Marc, this Jennifer from Terlingua,” the opening message said. “I have a question for you. I kind of need help….I did something stupid. It’s a long story but I will try and keep it short. But do you still do ethical or actually non-ethical hacking?”

“Oh wow. I haven’t in a very long time,” Marc responded. “Why? What’s up? You okay?”

“No I started a new job. My supervisor has been trying to have me fired since I started. She’s a bitch. And her supervisor is a dumb bitch too. But I tried to download an app on my supervisor’s computer remotely so I could see what she is saying to [get] me fired. An app that does key logging. But it didn’t work. And I think I caused a virus on the network. But I did get into her account for a brief time. Can you help me get rid of all this?

Marc declined and wrote back, “Are you trying to get rid of your supervisor?”

“Yes, I can’t stand her,” the account responded. 

Schutz told The Sentinel Sunday that she never knew about the screenshots until recently and had never provided them to PMC, as the higher-ups told Pittinger. She said she never had any intention of trying to get Pittinger fired. “She was a great worker and did a good job,” Schutz said. 

Pittinger told PMC managers that she didn’t send the messages on the screenshots, and she didn’t know any “Marc” with a “c.” She offered all her Facebook messages and data, texts and phone records. PMC declined to review them, she said. That day, Pittinger filed a complaint with the Alpine Police Department for identity theft. 

PMC eventually fired Pittinger without explanation via an envelope delivered to her door on July 8.

Pittinger said the screenshots were fake and created to get her terminated. “I was left destitute and with a healthcare plan about to lapse,” Pittinger said. “This incident destroyed me, and I’ve been wrestling with the pain and humiliation of it for months.” She was also frustrated with law enforcement, whom she claimed didn’t respond for weeks to a request for an update on her case. 

Pittinger wondered how Marfa police were able to file impersonation charges against Schutz so quickly while her case languished. She finally met with APD officers on Tuesday, but they told her they weren’t sure what they could do and considered forwarding the complaint to the FBI.

The Sentinel’s review of the screenshots revealed that they were not Facebook messages, did not include Pittinger’s profile and were under the name “J. Pittinger,” not her full name, as listed on her Facebook profile. The Sentinel called and texted the number of the anonymous person texting the screenshots to Schutz, but the number rang without voicemail and no response came from the text. No names could be found associated with the number in phone listings.

Pittinger said that she understood why PMC panicked when they saw the screenshots but was disappointed they terminated her without investigating the “obviously fake messages” further. “What I can’t understand is how they put so much faith in what are obviously fake messages. And now the woman that gave the screenshots to them has been criminally charged with impersonation, with possible further complaints for forgery and lying to a court,” Pittinger said. “And no one seems to care.”

PMC did not respond to requests for comment by press time. In the request for comment, The Sentinel specifically asked if it had checked any references for Schutz before hiring her at Senior Life Solutions.

A friend worries about Schutz

The Louisiana friend that stayed at Schutz’s rental house in Marfa said he had been close with her for years, forming a bond after working together in the burn unit at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center in Lafayette. Still, he said he felt compelled to share Schutz’s communications with Rogers and The Sentinel after he realized what her “lies were doing to other people.”

The friend said Schutz disappeared one night in Marfa after telling him she would be home by 6 p.m. She returned the next day, but he noticed she had a bag of boxes of Tradea (Methylphenidate) along with a receipt from an Ojinaga, Mexico, pharmacy. The drug is a stimulant also brand-named Ritalin and “has become the primary drug of choice in treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children,” according to the National Library of Medicine (NLM). While the NLM maintains that the drug is effective and safe, its literature says it is prone to abuse and “has receptor effects similar to those of cocaine.” 

Schutz also mentioned to the friend that she was continuing to check on her patients with Senior Life Solutions after she left PMC to make sure they were okay. To the friend, it was concerning that a terminated employee forging attorney signatures, using Tradea and facing eviction would be choosing to visit seniors.

On Sunday, Schutz said the drug was prescribed to her for lifelong ADHD and that it was perfectly legal to bring it across the border from Ojinaga.

More concerning to the friend, however, is his knowledge of Schutz’s history where they worked at Lourdes in Lafayette. The friend said Schutz was either terminated or forced to resign after she took prescription drugs from the hospital, and he said he confirmed that account with their supervisor, who said they also found a blank prescription pad in her purse already signed by a doctor. (That supervisor did not return a request for comment from The Sentinel.)

Schutz said on Sunday that she resigned and added that she did use the hospital’s computer to log out valid prescriptions from the shelves for herself. She said a doctor told her it was okay, but later learned it was against hospital policy. In order to avoid conflict, she resigned; she told The Sentinel she was trying to avoid extra stress while she was dealing with the death of a close friend and still reeling from the pandemic-era stressors placed on healthcare professionals.   

While Schutz originally told The Sentinel she was going back to a position at Lourdes after planning to leave Marfa, she told the court on Monday that she was not. 

The Louisiana friend said he knew Schutz would find out eventually that he had been communicating with Frydman and the media. He said they hashed it out over the weekend through a phone call that lasted two hours and with a long letter –– a “probably 5,000 word dissertation” advising his dear friend of over a decade to come clean. 

“I just want you to know that I know it all now,” the friend said he told her. “You don’t have to pretend anymore and it’s okay. I’m just telling you what I feel like you should do — is own up to what you’ve done and try to start over and make it better….That’s where you are in life. That’s what people do when after they hit rock bottom, they slowly try to crawl back up.”

On Sunday, Schutz said she was upbeat about that new life, though she admitted, “I have hit bottom many times, but honestly, this is the worst it’s gotten.”

She still contends that she did not impersonate Rogers and could prove it with computer and phone records — that she had not looked for yet — and that she admires Rogers. “Would it be weird if I tried to hire Liz [Rogers] to defend me,” she joked in a text to The Sentinel Monday. 

“It’ll be fine,” she continued. “There is so much more going on in this world. This struggle will be a great life lesson. And I’m going to take it in stride.”

Those who said they were left financially harmed by Schutz did not have the same view. Frydman wondered if the house would truly remain empty by Tuesday and thereafter, and Pittinger wondered how she would get a job in the healthcare profession after the damage to her reputation. “This isn’t over for me,” Pittinger said. “I didn’t hit rock bottom from something I did. So, I can’t really take it in stride.”

Disclosures: Jennifer Pittinger has been compensated for taking two photos for The Big Bend Sentinel. Frydman was a barista at The Sentinel cafe for a brief period.

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