Shawn Steven KiddA 37-year-old Chattanooga man serving time in state prison was arraigned Tuesday on charges that, in an attempt to get out early, he forged the signature of the federal judge who sentenced him in a separate embezzlement scheme.
In an orange jumpsuit and shackles, Shaun Steven Kidd stood before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bill Carter on Tuesday morning.
“I would say that these are somewhat unusual charges,” Carter told Kidd, who’s an inmate in the Whiteville Correctional Facility in Tennessee.
Kidd’s most recent charge is that he enlisted the help of a woman named Jett Varner, sending her forged documents and instructions on how to fax a “notice of amended detainer” with a federal judge’s signature on it to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
He sent Varner a cut-and-paste copy of the notice with U.S. District Judge Harry “Sandy” Mattice’s copied “electronic signature,” according to court documents.