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 Sedona, AZ
Getting charged with embezzlement is a very serious issue and definitely one in which you would want to locate an Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Sedona, AZ. From a lawful standpoint if you are found guilty, you can end up with fines and/or time in jail or prison, depending upon how significant the crime is, evaluated by the quantity of the things or money stolen. From an individual standpoint, there are several issues that will certainly need to be managed if you are found guilty. The greatest personal difficulties you will possibly deal with are that you may feel like you allow yourself down as well as the people you keep company with. Your loved ones may really feel horribly for you, or they might feel incredibly let down in you and might desire to abandon the partnership with you, briefly or even permanently.
However, if you really are blameless or there are mitigating scenarios (such as someone made you do it) you absolutely require to have a terrific defense. Only a terrific Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Sedona, AZ can make that defense case for you. Right here we will now discuss what embezzlement is, how you can be charged with it, whether it is a felony in Arizona, and exactly how you can prevent the charges.
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 typically considered to be the abuse of or the misuse of a person’s placement or capability in a trust setting that manages funds and various other possessions apart from their own. For example, if you are a controller or a bookkeeper in a company or a charity, you are in a setting that deals with, either directly or indirectly, the individual’s or service entity’s funds and also other possessions. Even if you market things such as candy or various other services or products for someone else and handle the money directly, you are in a setting of dealing with another individual’s or entity’s money.
That money belongs to the individual or entity that you are holding it or handling it for. Additionally, there are specific standards, both spoken and unmentioned, that you as the caregiver of those properties (which could be money or items, as an example) that need to be adhered to.
What is Embezzlement (continued)
Let’s state that you are dealing with the Girl Scouts selling cookies and you have been offered 5 cases of Girls Scout cookies to market. You market 2.5 box cases of them in the time period that’s allotted to sell them, which implies you have the cash for the 2.5 situations you marketed and also you still have 2.5 cases left. You turn in all the cash you collected plus all of the added boxes left over to your contact for the Girl Scouts. All is great since you have actually not misused any of the funds or products.
Now, consider you are having a difficult time economically and you state in your mind “I will certainly just use some of that money and then give it back when it is time. I ought to have the ability to get it by that time.” Is that a poor thing? Yes, it definitely is! This is an example of embezzlement. You were in a setting of trust and a caregiver for properties that do not belong to you. Consequently, this theft is thought to be embezzlement. If you take any of those possessions for personal use ‘at any moment’ you are utilizing money that is not yours to redirect. Even if you intended on returning it when it was due – you still committed the act. This is never ever a great suggestion, not even if you do get the money back on time. You must at all times maintain that money entirely away from your individual money. Co-mingling of money like that is just not a good idea to do.
Bringing that to a corporate level, there are even more ways to abuse or misuse funds or possessions in a company, charitable, or government entity setup. This kind of thing occurs more regularly than you would certainly assume, and a few of these cases become high profile (in other words they are covered by one or more information outlets such as radio stations, TV, newspapers, and much more). Embezzlement on a company or charitable level implies that an individual has actually taken possessions (normally money but it might also be products or services) and used them, without authority, for personal advantage. Sometimes these funds are misdirected to a personal account, but more elaborate embezzlement plans additionally exist.
Embezzlement can also be carried out by more than one individual, particularly from a preparation viewpoint. Despite the number of people are involved, all of them are doing something illegal as well as can be charged with a criminal offense.
Exactly How Can I Become Charged with Embezzlement and Would I Need an Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Sedona, AZ?
You can be charged and also need an Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Sedona, AZ if you are under suspicion of committing any kind of fraudulent task with some other person’s or entity’s funds that have been misdirected as well as made use of for your individual usage. It does not matter if you utilized them to help a buddy or loved one or you directly profited. You utilized them illegally.
Many times it can take years that charges are brought up, specifically in cases where a controller or a book keeper had direct access to the books and the firm was lax regarding having their records properly investigated on a regular basis. What takes place in this case often times is the embezzler starts out gradually taking a couple of bits of cash out at a time. After that since they have not been found out yet, greed can set in therefore they begin getting more cash. Their employer ultimately will catch on as well as start to examine the possible missing assets. They will possibly hire an auditor to see what’s going on and also the auditor hopefully quickly locates the trail of theft that leads back to the person that did it. This procedure can take years due to how this kind of criminal offense can play out. It all just relies on the scenarios of the theft, the financial controls of the company, as well as when and if the company’s officers sniff out the possible losses they are experiencing.
When this occurs, detectives are called, they gather each piece of the facts that they can, and also provide a warrant for the arrest of the person or individuals associated with the criminal activity. Then you will definitely want to call the best and top rated Sedona, 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 free, and you will discover important concepts that will help you defend the charges.
Is Embezzlement a Felony in Arizona?
This is a great question. Due to the nature of the criminal activity, you could assume that it is a felony in all situations. Nonetheless, there are instances that it is just a misdemeanor in Arizona. Yet, just being charged with a misdemeanor can result in penalties as well as jail time, although it will not result in a felony record. Embezzlement in Arizona will certainly be a misdemeanor if the value of the theft is under $1,000, which can have a punishment of as much as 6 months behind bars. Any embezzlement or burglary quantities greater than that will certainly be considered to be a felony, the class of which is figured out by the quantity of the burglary. Felony charges can vary anywhere between a Class 6 felony for $1,000 to $2,000 in theft of goods, with repercussions of as much as 2 years behind bars (that’s prison, not jail) to a Class 2 felony for more than $25,000 of burglary of cash and/or goods. The repercussions for that are between 3 and 12.5 years in prison.
Exactly How Can I Defend Myself Against an Embezzlement arrest?
There are numerous reasons that people do things they do, and also there are times when it looks like somebody is doing something prohibited and they are charged of that in their case, but the intent or real situation was totally more complicated than it appeared.
Let’s take the Girl Scouts example from above. Let’s state you used the cash to acquire pizza for the area Troop as well as you were authorized to do so from someone higher up. After that something happens to that individual and a new person needs to replace that person yet was uninformed of the consent. They call the police and charge you for stealing. However no burglary really occurred since you used it for the girls, as well as you had permission, even though the proper communication was not there. In this scenario, your charges would most likely be dismissed since there was no intent to misuse or abuse the funds and there was consent to use them for the function they were.
There are other prospective genuine defenses against embezzlement as well, such as the concern pointed out over where somebody else was requiring the actions upon the person that was in the placement of financial trust. Every one of these are handled on a case by case basis, and also you have to have an extremely solid defense on your side in order to defeat charges like these. If all the evidence points to you and you also were in that position of trust, only the strongest criminal defense by the finest and top rated Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Sedona, AZ can defend your rights in court.