Mr. Ferragut's High-Profile Cases Have Been Featured On:
Get Your Free Case Evaluation Now
Time Is Of The Essence – Hiring An Embezzlement Lawyer in Glendale, AZ
Facing a charge of embezzlement is a very serious concern and definitely one in which you would want to find an Embezzlement Lawyer in Glendale, AZ. From a lawful perspective if you are found guilty, you can end up with fines and/or time in jail or prison, depending upon exactly how serious the crime is, judged by the quantity of the things or money stolen. From an individual viewpoint, there are numerous issues that will need to be handled if you are found to be guilty. The greatest individual challenges you will probably deal with are that you may feel like you let your self down as well as people you keep company with. Your loved ones might really feel bad for you, or they may really feel very dissatisfied in you and may want to abandon the connection with you, briefly or maybe permanently.
But, if you actually are blameless or there are extenuating scenarios (such as someone made you do it) you most definitely require to have a terrific defense case. You should find an excellent Glendale, AZ Embezzlement Lawyer to make that defense for you. Here we will now review what embezzlement is, how you can be charged with it, whether it is a felony in Arizona, and also exactly how you can defend against 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 usually thought to be the abuse of or the misuse of a person’s placement or capacity in a trust setting that handles funds and also other properties aside from their personal assets. For instance, if you are a controller or a bookkeeper in a corporation or a charity, you remain in a placement that manages, either in a direct manner or indirectly, the individual’s or company entity’s funds as well as various other properties. Even if you offer things like candy or other products or services for somebody else as well as manage the money directly, you remain in a setting of dealing with another person’s or entity’s money.
That cash belongs to the individual or entity that you are holding it or handling it for. Additionally, there are particular standards, both spoken as well as unspoken, that you as the caregiver of those properties (which could be money or products, for instance) that need to be adhered to.
What is Embezzlement (continued)
Let’s state that you are helping with the Girl Scouts selling cookies and you have actually been given 5 cases of Girls Scout cookies to sell. You offer 2.5 box cases of them in the time duration that’s set aside to offer them, which indicates you have the money for the 2.5 instances you offered and you still have 2.5 cases left. You give all the cash you gathered plus each of the additional boxes left over to your contact person for the Girl Scouts. All is fine due to the fact that you have actually not misused any one of the funds or items.
Now, consider you are having a tough time monetarily and you state in your mind “I will only borrow some of that money and after that pay it back when it is time. I should be able to get it at that time.” Is that a bad thing to do? Yes, it definitely is! This is an instance of embezzlement. You had been in a setting of trust and a caretaker for properties that do not belong to you personally. As a result, this misdirection of funds is taken into consideration to be embezzlement. If you take any one of those properties for personal usage ‘any time’ you are making use of cash that does not belong to you. Even if you planned on returning it when it was due – you still did it. This is never ever a good concept, not even if you do get the money back on time. You should at all times keep that money completely separate from your individual cash. Co-mingling of funds like that is simply not a good idea to do.
Bringing that to a business level, there are a lot more ways to abuse or misuse funds or possessions in a business, charitable, or government entity setting. This sort of thing occurs more often than you would certainly believe, as well as a few of these situations come to be high profile (in other words they are covered by one or more information outlets such as radio stations, television, newspapers, and also more). Embezzlement on a business or non-profit degree indicates that an individual has actually taken possessions (generally money but it might additionally be products or services) and utilized them, without authority, for personal gain. Sometimes these funds are misdirected to a personal account, however a lot more intricate embezzlement plans additionally exist and take place.
Embezzlement can also be accomplished by more than one individual, specifically from a planning standpoint. No matter how many people are involved, all of them are doing something illegal and can be charged with a criminal activity.
Just How Can I Get Charged with Embezzlement and Would I Need an Embezzlement Lawyer in Glendale, AZ?
You can be arrested for and also need an Embezzlement Lawyer in Glendale, AZ if you are under suspicion of acting on any type of illegal activity with some other individual’s or entity’s funds that have actually been misdirected as well as utilized for your own individual usage. It doesn’t matter if you utilized them to help a friend or relative or you directly benefited. You used the assets illegally.
Often times it can take years before criminal cases are brought up, specifically in cases where a controller or a book keeper had straight access to the books as well as the firm was lax concerning having their records examined by a 3rd party at important times. What occurs in this case lot of times is the embezzler starts out gradually and takes a few bits of cash out each time. Then since they have not been caught in the act yet, greed can set in therefore they start getting more money. Their boss at some point catch on and also start to examine. They will probably employ an auditor to see what’s taking place and also the auditor hopefully easily discovers the trail of stolen cash or goods 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. It all just relies on the circumstances of the theft, the financial controls of the business, and when and also if the business’s officers discover the prospective losses they are experiencing.
When this happens, detectives are called, they collect all of the facts that they can, and also issue a warrant for the apprehension of the person or people associated with the criminal offense. Then you will definitely want to call the best and top rated Glendale, AZ Embezzlement Lawyer.
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 things that will help you defend the charges against you.
Is Embezzlement a Felony in Arizona?
This is an excellent question. As a result of the nature of the criminal offense, you might think that it is in all cases. However, there are situations that it is simply a misdemeanor in Arizona. Yet, just being charged with a misdemeanor can bring about penalties as well as jail time, although it will certainly not lead to a felon record. Embezzlement in Arizona will certainly be a misdemeanor if the worth of the burglary is $1,000 or less, which might have a penalty of as much as 6 months in jail. Any type of embezzlement or theft quantities greater than that will certainly be a felony if convicted, the class of which is determined by the amount of the burglary. Felony charges can range anywhere between a Class 6 felony for $1,000 to $2,000 in stolen items, with repercussions of approximately 2 years behind bars (that’s prison, not jail) to a Class 2 felony for greater than $25,000 of burglary of property. The effects for that are between 3 and 12.5 years in a prison.
How Can I Defend Myself Against an Embezzlement case?
There are many reasons that individuals do things they do, and also there are times when it looks like a person is doing something illegal and they are implicated of that in their arrest, but the intent or real scenario was completely more complicated than it appeared.
Take the Girl Scouts instance from above. Let’s say you used the money to purchase pizza for the area Troop and also you were licensed to do so from a person higher in GSA. Then something happens to that individual as well as a new person needs to take over however was not aware of the authorization. They call the police department and charge you for stealing. But no burglary really happened since you appropriately utilized it for the scouts, as well as you had consent, even though the proper communication was not there. In this scenario, your charges would most likely be dropped because there was no intent to misuse or abuse the funds as well as there was authorization to use them for the purpose they were.
There are other potential legit defenses versus embezzlement as well, such as the concern pointed out above where another person was requiring the activities upon the individual that was in the placement of financial trust. All of these are taken on a situational basis, as well as you should have a really strong defense in your corner in order to defeat charges like these. If all the proof points to you and you also worked in that placement of financial responsibility, only the greatest criminal defense by the finest as well as leading Embezzlement Lawyer in Glendale, AZ can assist you with your rights in court.