R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-12-3: Acknowledgments in good faith before person claiming to be authorized — Penalty for misrepresentation.

Any acknowledgment made in good faith before a person claiming to be one of the foregoing officials authorized to take acknowledgments within the respective jurisdictions as above, shall be valid, although the official before whom the acknowledgment is made was not duly qualified in that office; but every person who shall, within this state, wilfully take and certify to the taking of any such acknowledgment, without being lawfully qualified thereunto, shall be liable in a criminal proceeding to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars ($50.00), one-half (½) to the use of the complainant and the other half thereto to the use of this state.