SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah is joining an investigation by every state and the District of Columbia into allegations that mortgage companies mishandled documents and broke laws to foreclose on homeowners.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says the allegations focus on bank or mortgage officials' signing off on foreclosures without reading documents or having any knowledge of a case -- a practice he called "robo-signing."
In some cases, Shurtleff says notary public witnesses have been cut out of the process, which he says is a violation of state law.

Shurtleff says he'll hold mortgage servicer providers responsible for any violations that force people out of their homes without due process.

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