DALTON, Ga. — A Dalton woman was apparently the legal documents expert for an out-of-state salvage or stolen car ring, according to the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office.

Vanessa Benson, 36, of Morningside Drive, was arrested and charged with 14 counts of forgery, 14 counts of identity theft and 14 counts of impersonating a public officer or employee.

According to a press release Thursday afternoon from Sheriff Scott Chitwood, the sheriff’s office arrested Benson after it was determined she had been forging officers’ names on documents and submitting those documents to the local tag office. The documents are known as a T-22B form that is used to get registration for a vehicle. Chitwood said the form has to be signed by an officer after the officer checks the vehicle identification number and matches that to the plate assigned to the vehicle. The form is then turned in to the tag office and the registration can be used to get a title for the vehicle.

The process “is to safeguard the public from getting ‘clean titles’ on salvaged or stolen vehicles,” Chitwood said. “Investigators believe Vanessa Benson was participating with some out-of-state individuals involved in a salvage or stolen car ring. Investigators believe Ms. Benson had been involved in submitting the forged documents for over a year. Fourteen forged documents were discovered.”

The investigation is continuing.