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 Tolleson, AZ
Facing a charge of embezzlement is an extremely major issue and definitely one in which you would want to hire an Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Tolleson, AZ. From a legal standpoint if you are found guilty, you could end up with penalties and/or time in jail or prison, depending on how serious the crime is, judged by the quantity of the theft. From a personal viewpoint, there are many concerns that will certainly need to be dealt with if you are found to be guilty. The biggest personal challenges you will possibly encounter are that you may seem like you allow your self down as well as people around you. Your family and friends may really feel horribly for you, or they may feel incredibly let down in you and may wish to abandon the partnership with you, momentarily or perhaps permanently.
But, if you actually are innocent or there are extenuating situations (such as a person made you do it) you absolutely need to have a solid defense case. Only a terrific Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Tolleson, AZ can make that defense case for you. Below we will review what embezzlement is, exactly how you can get charged with it, whether it is a felony in Arizona, as well as just how you can prevent the case against you.
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 normally considered to be the abuse of or the misuse of a person’s placement or capability in a trusted position that handles funds as well as other properties aside from their personal assets. As an example, if you are a controller or an accountant in a company or a charity, you are in a position that manages, either in a direct manner or indirectly, the person’s or company entity’s funds as well as other properties. Even if you market items such as candy or other products or services for somebody else and handle the money directly, you remain in a position of managing another individual’s or entity’s cash.
That money belongs to the individual or entity that you are holding it or handling it for. Plus, there are particular guidelines, both spoken as well as unspoken, that you as the caretaker of those possessions (which could be money or items, for instance) that you have to comply with.
What is Embezzlement (continued)
Let’s state that you are helping with the Girl Scouts marketing cookies and you have been given 5 cases of Girls Scout cookies to offer. You sell 2.5 box cases of them in the time period that’s allocated to offer them, which indicates you have the money for the 2.5 instances you offered as well as you still have 2.5 box cases left. 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 abused any of the funds or products.
Now, consider you were having a hard time monetarily and you state in your mind “I will certainly just borrow a little of that money and after that give it when it is time. I will be able to get it at that time.” Is that a negative thing to do? Yes, it absolutely is! This is an example of embezzlement. You had been in a placement of trust and a caregiver for properties that do not belong to you. For that reason, this theft is considered to be embezzlement. If you take any of those assets for personal usage ‘any time’ you are utilizing cash that is not yours to use. Even if you planned on returning it when it scheduled – you still committed the act. This is never a great idea, not even if you do pay the money back on time. You must in any way possible and at all times maintain that cash entirely separate from your individual money. Co-mingling of money like that is just not a good idea to do.
Bringing that to a company level, there are much more methods to abuse or misuse funds or properties in a business, charitable, or government entity setup. This type of thing happens more regularly than you would assume, as well as several of these situations come to be high profile (meaning they are covered by one or more information outlets such as radio stations, TV, newspapers, and also much more). Embezzlement on a company or charitable degree indicates that an individual has actually taken properties (usually money but it could additionally be products or services) as well as used them, without authority, for personal gain. Many times these funds are misdirected to a personal account, however much more intricate embezzlement schemes do exist.
Embezzlement can additionally be carried out by more than a single individual, especially from a preparation point of view. Regardless of the number of individuals are involved, all of them are doing something prohibited and also can be charged with a criminal activity.
How Can I Become Charged with Embezzlement and Would I Need an Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Tolleson, AZ?
You can be arrested for as well as require an Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Tolleson, AZ if you are on trial of doing any kind of deceitful task with some other individual’s or entity’s funds that have been misdirected as well as utilized for your individual usage. It does not matter if you utilized them to assist a close friend or loved one or you directly profited. You utilized those assets illegally.
Lot of times it can take years before charges are brought up, particularly in cases where a controller or a book keeper had direct accessibility to the books and the firm was lax concerning having their records examined by a 3rd party on a regular basis. What occurs in this situation often times is the embezzler starts out slowly thieving a few dollars out at once. Then because they have not been found out yet, greed can set in and they begin obtaining more money. Their manager eventually catch on and begin to examine. They will possibly hire an auditor to see what’s taking place and also the auditor hopefully quickly locates the path of theft that leads back to the individual that did it. This procedure can take years because of just how this type of criminal activity can play out. All of it just depends on the conditions of the theft, the financial controls of the business, as well as when and if the firm’s representatives discover the potential losses they are experiencing.
When this takes place, policemen are called in, they collect all of the truths that they can, and provide a warrant for the apprehension of the individual or people involved in the criminal offense. Then you will definitely want to call the best and top rated Tolleson, 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 no charge, and you will discover important things that will help you defend the charges against you.
Is Embezzlement a Felony in Arizona?
This is a terrific inquiry. Due to the nature of the crime, you could believe that it is in all situations. However, there are cases that it is simply a misdemeanor in Arizona. Yet, even a misdemeanor can bring about fines and jail time, although it will certainly not bring about a felony record. Embezzlement in Arizona will be a misdemeanor if the worth of the burglary is under $1,000, which could have a penalty of up to 6 months behind bars. Any embezzlement or burglary amounts above that will certainly be a felony if convicted, the class of which is figured out by the amount of the theft. Felony charges can range anywhere in between a Class 6 felony for $1,000 to $2,000 in stolen products, with consequences of approximately 2 years in prison (that’s prison, not jail) to a Class 2 felony for greater than $25,000 of burglary of property. The repercussions for that are between 3 and 12.5 years in prison.
Just How Can I Defend Myself Against an Embezzlement arrest?
There are lots of reasons people do the things they do, as well as there are times when it appears like a person is doing something illegal and they are charged of that in their arrest, yet the intent or real situation was completely different.
Take the Girl Scouts example from above. Let’s state you utilized the cash to buy pizza for the local Girl Scouts and also you were authorized to do so from a person higher up. After that something takes place to that individual and also a new person takes over control yet was unaware of the consent. They call the law and charge you for theft. However no burglary actually took place because you appropriately utilized it for the scouts, and you had consent, despite the fact that the proper interaction was missing. In this circumstance, your charges would probably be dropped because there was no intent to misuse or abuse the funds as well as there was permission to utilize them for the objective they were.
There are other prospective reputable defenses against embezzlement too, such as the issue pointed out above where another person was forcing the activities upon the person that remained in the position of financial trust. Every one of these are handled on a per instance basis, as well as you should have a very solid protection in your corner in order to beat charges like these. If all the evidence points to you and you also were in that position of financial responsibility, only the best defense by the finest as well as leading Embezzlement Defense Attorney in Tolleson, AZ can assist you with your rights in court.