Mr. Ferragut's High-Profile Cases Have Been Featured On:
Get Your Free Case Evaluation Now
Time Is Of The Essence – Hiring An Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Prescott, AZ
Facing a charge of embezzlement is an extremely major problem and definitely one in which you would want to retain an Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Prescott, AZ. From a legal standpoint if you are actually guilty, you could end up with penalties and/or time in jail or prison, depending upon exactly how major the crime is, evaluated by the amount of the things or money stolen. From an individual point of view, there are numerous issues that will certainly need to be handled if you are found to be guilty. The largest personal challenges you will possibly encounter are that you might feel like you let your self down as well as people around you. Your family and friends might feel horribly for you, or they might feel very let down in you as well as might wish to desert the connection with you, momentarily or even permanently.
However, if you really are blameless or there are mitigating scenarios (such as somebody made you do it) you certainly require to have a great defense case. You will want to find an extremely successful Prescott, AZ Embezzlement Defense Attorney to make that case for you. Here we will review what embezzlement is, exactly how you can be charged with it, whether it is a felony in Arizona, and how you can defend against the case.
For your personal knowledge, here is a page from the Arizona court system with a lot of useful information about what to expect in a criminal trial.
What is Embezzlement?
Embezzlement is generally thought to be the abuse of or the misuse of someone’s position or capacity in a trusted position that deals with funds and various other assets besides their own. For instance, if you are a controller or an accountant in a company or a charity, you are in a position that deals with, either directly or indirectly, the individual’s or service entity’s funds and also other assets. Even if you sell items like candy or various other products or services for someone else and manage the money directly, you remain in a placement of dealing with another person’s or entity’s cash.
That cash comes from the individual or entity that you are holding it or handling it for. Additionally, there are specific standards, both spoken and also unspoken, that you as the caregiver of those possessions (which could be money or products, for example) that need to be adhered to.
What is Embezzlement (continued)
Let’s say that you are dealing with the Girl Scouts offering cookies and you have been offered 5 cases of Girls Scout cookies to offer. You sell 2.5 cases of them in the time duration that’s allocated to offer them, which indicates you have the cash for the 2.5 cases you sold and you still have 2.5 box cases in your possession. You give all of the cash you gathered plus all of the additional boxes left over to your contact person for the Girl Scouts. All is great because you have not misused any one of the funds or items.
Now, consider you are having a challenging time monetarily as well as you said to yourself “I will only borrow a bit of that money and after that give it back when it is time. I ought to have the ability to get it at that time.” Is that a poor thing to do? Yes, it absolutely is! This is an instance of embezzlement. You had been in a placement of trust as well as a caregiver for assets that do not belong to you. Consequently, this misdirection of funds is considered to be embezzlement. If you take any one of those possessions for individual use ‘at any time’ you are using cash that is not yours to possess. Even if you intended on returning it when it scheduled – you still committed the act. This is never ever a good suggestion, not even if you do get the money back in a timely manner. You ought to in all times maintain that money totally separate from your personal money. Co-mingling of money like that is just not a good idea to do.
Bringing that to a company level, there are even more ways to abuse or misuse funds or properties in a company, non-profit, or federal, state, or local government entity setting. This kind of issue happens more regularly than you would assume, and a few of these instances become high profile (this means they are covered by potentially several information outlets such as radio , television, newspapers, and much more). Embezzlement on a business or non-profit degree suggests that a person has actually taken properties (generally cash but it might also be products or services) as well as utilized them, without authority, for personal benefit. Sometimes these funds are misdirected to a personal account, yet more sophisticated embezzlement schemes also exist and occur.
Embezzlement can additionally be executed by greater than a single individual, specifically from a planning viewpoint. Despite the number of individuals are included, all of them are doing something prohibited as well as can be charged with a criminal offense.
How Can I Become Charged with Embezzlement and Would I Need an Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Prescott, AZ?
You can be charged and also need an Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Prescott, AZ if you are under suspicion of acting on any kind of fraudulent activity with some other person’s or entity’s funds that have actually been misdirected and made use of for your own individual usage. No matter if you used them to aid a pal or loved one or you directly benefited. You utilized those assets unlawfully.
Sometimes it can take years before charges are raised, especially in cases where a controller or a book keeper had direct accessibility to assets and also the business was lax about having their records properly investigated at important times. What takes place in this case sometimes is the embezzler starts out slowly taking a couple of dollars out each time. Then due to the fact that they have not been found out yet, greed can embed in therefore they begin obtaining more money. Their employer at some point catch on and also start to explore. They will most likely hire an auditor to see what’s going on and also the auditor hopefully easily finds the trail of theft that leads back to the person that did it. This process can take years because of just how this sort of criminal activity can play out. Everything just depends upon the conditions of the theft, the financial controls of the firm, and also when as well as if the firm’s representatives sniff out the prospective losses they are experiencing.
When this happens, officers of the law are called, they collect all of the facts that they can, and issue a warrant for the apprehension of the person or people associated with the criminal activity. Then you will definitely want to call the best and top rated Prescott, AZ Embezzlement Defense Attorney.
Here is a page with many of our Case Results. Please feel free to take a look at all of the successful victories we have had for our clients over the years.
Ready to talk? Just call us today at 602-324-5300. The consultation is at no cost to you, and you will discover important ideas that will help you defend the charges against you.
Is Embezzlement a Felony in Arizona?
This is a great question. Because of the nature of the criminal offense, you may assume that it is in all situations. However, there are situations that it is simply a misdemeanor in Arizona. But, just being charged with a misdemeanor can result in fines as well as jail time, although it will certainly not lead to a felon record. Embezzlement in Arizona will be a misdemeanor if the worth of the burglary is under $1,000, which might have a punishment of up to 6 months in jail. Any embezzlement or burglary amounts higher than that will certainly be a felony, the class of which is identified by the quantity of the theft. Felony charges can vary anywhere in between a Class 6 felony for $1,000 to $2,000 in stolen items, with effects of up to 2 years behind bars (that’s prison, not jail) to a Class 2 felony for more than $25,000 of theft of cash and/or goods. The consequences for that are between 3 and 12.5 years in prison.
How Can I Defend Myself Against an Embezzlement charge?
There are lots of reasons that people do things they do, and there are times when it resembles a person is doing something unlawful and also they are implicated of that in their case, yet the intent or real circumstance was entirely different.
Let’s take the Girl Scouts example from above. Let’s state you used the money to acquire pizza for the local Girl Scouts and also you were allowed to do so from someone higher in GSA. After that something happens to that individual and also someone new takes over yet was unaware of the permission. They call the law and charge you for stealing. But no burglary actually occurred due to the fact that you utilized it for the girls, and also you had consent, although the proper communication was not there. In this scenario, your charges would most likely be dismissed due to the fact that there was no intent to misuse or abuse the funds as well as there was permission to utilize them for the function they were.
There are other potential legit defenses against embezzlement as well, such as the concern pointed out over where another person was requiring the actions upon the individual that was in the position of monetary trust. All of these are tackled on a situational basis, as well as you must have a very solid protection on your side in order to defeat fees like these. If all the evidence points against you and you also worked in that position of trust, only the toughest defense by the finest and top rated Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Prescott, AZ can assist you with your rights in court.