SALEM — An allegation from a Central Oregon attorney is part of an initiative fraud complaint filed Tuesday by a watchdog group.

Bend attorney Timothy Williams said that when he approached a petitioner on June 20 who was collecting signatures in Bend for several ballot measures, the petitioner identified himself with a false name.

That would be a crime, because petition circulators are required to register with the state.

The two-pronged complaint — filed by Our Oregon, a union-backed initiative watchdog group — also includes sworn statements from several people who say their names were forged on petitions.

The Secretary of State Elections Division now must decide whether to forward the information to the Department of Justice, which could pursue sanctions against the authors of the measures, who include prolific initiative sponsor Bill Sizemore of Klamath Falls and also the Portland-area firm hired to collect signatures.

Repeated violations of signature-collecting laws can fetch felony charges.

“It is a serious situation where somebody who is not a registered gatherer was apparently out under somebody else’s name,” said Our Oregon spokesman Scott Moore.

People who collect signatures are registered to ensure they are not identity thieves or forgers and have not been convicted of fraud in the past five years, he said.

Williams was out of the office Tuesday and unavailable for comment, but his recounting of the incident is spelled out in a sworn statement submitted to the state.

The petitioners in Bend who were approached by Williams had set up a table outside the post office, he said, and were collecting signatures for three measures — one of which sought to limit the contingency fees that can be collected by attorneys.

The man was identified as “Brian Schrier” — but Williams believed it was somebody else, and a check of a photograph proved he was right, he said.

But Tim Trickey of Democracy Direct Inc., the company who hired the petition circulators, said Tuesday he is “almost 100 percent certain” the charges are bogus.

“Brian did in fact work in Bend, and he is a licensed circulator,” he said. “We can confirm he was out working on multiple locations.”

Schrier would jeopardize his ability to be a petitioner if he allowed somebody else to collect signatures under his name, Trickey said.

Also, he noted that the allegations are coming from a lawyer — and the complaint could help to scuttle a measure aimed at reining in lawyer fees.

“We’ve received a tremendous amount of opposition behind the scenes from the trial lawyers association, and they employed any tactic possible,” he said.

The measures aimed at trial lawyers do not look likely to qualify for the November ballot, he said.