so lets cut to the chase. my best friend works for my parents as a house/errand boy. it has recently come to our attention that he has been commiting credit card fruad by withdrawing a hundred/s of dollars and filling his car with gas on my parents card. after reviewing the detailed statements we find this has been happening for around 3-4 months now. to make a long story short it’s to the point of grand larceny. we have launched an investagation into it the whole thing. my question is what is going to happen to him, he is a first time offender but he has no way of paying back the money. are we talking jail time, probation with nothing more then a slap on the wrist. please spare me the part about a guy who guys this is not your friend, thats a given. . .
Theft is Theft!.. Nuff said . If he is convicted he should pay retribution AND do whatever the courts deem appropriate!
Just my $0.02…
How old is he? A friend of mine took the fall for about 4-5 of his friends (including himself) “carding” things off the internet frequently for years. It had to have been several thousand, if not $10,000+ worth of merchandise but he was only 17 at the time and walked away with basically a slap on the wrist. This was in Florida BTW.
It all depends on:
-His age
-Your state laws
and most importantly,
-The specific charges your parents wish to persue.
For stealing a few hundred worth of gas? - Probably wrist slap if he has a good lawyer and no priors. This is really more a question to ask your local PD or local lawyer friend as punishments vary state to state and punishment is highly variable depending on circumstances.
If the perp’s a minor, are not his parents responsible for the economic damage? One way or another, you don’t let this slide.
Bust’em early and young! If the penalty is lighter than the reward, he’ll take home a lesson.
“And it is the decision of the court that you write the word restitution on the blackboard one thousand times.”
Speaking as a fraud analyst, the most he’ll probably get is probation and restitution.
With restitution, a “bill only” account will be set up in his name and reporting to his credit bureau. The debt he incurred will be removed from your parent’s history and made his sole responsibility. If he goes delinquent, it damages his credit, not your parents.
He is 23, lives in Oklahoma, and there is no way he will have a good lawyer, probably a state appointed one.
Also, though my parents initiated the investigation, I’m not sure if it is them (they?) or the credit card company who is ultimately pressing charges.
hardygrrl, what happens if he goes delinquent on those payments? because he probably will. . . .
and: What will this charge do to his life being on his * permanent record*?
If it’s a felony he won’t be able to vote and he’ll have a really hard time finding a job from now on.
Ahh, thank you Duckster. I have several felon friends who will be glad to hear that. I always thought it was stupid to lose your voting privaleges for life because of one little felony but I had heard it from so many people (firsthand felons included) that I just assumed it was true.
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Personally, I think it is stupid to lose one’s voting privileges even when serving a sentence. Every citizen should be able to vote. If you’re robbed of your citizenship, you should be deported, not put behind bars. Ergo, IMO, prisoners and other ‘serving’ felons should have the ability to vote.
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One “little” felony? Yikes!:eek:
Yeah, just one “little” murder, and the victim wasn’t anybody important…
i have a question or two. have the police been notified? i am curious because i am getting the idea that you haven’t. if you aren’t pressing the matter, the d.a. won’t be overly concerned either. OTOH, if you do report it to the CC companies, they may press the matter.
i have a friend who has a husband who got busted for some crimes of theft. the system (oklahoma) cut him some slack because he “wasn’t a violent offender”. he got busted about a million times before he went to prison. my guess is, if he really sucks up to the judge, he will get off with the slapped wrist.
Every state has its own laws on the matter.
jkbelle, first you have to prove it was your ‘best friend’ who did it.
On a restitution account, any delinquency reports to the person making restitution and no one else. The account is set up with the perp’s information and reports to their credit bureau. No card is issued. They just get statements.
He will have to sign an affadavit of responsibilty to make this happen. Most courts, in my experience, will waive jail time if the perp accepts liability. In any case, the bank will take the fraud off your parents account once it has been reported and they cooperate (sign an affadavit) with the investigation.
This situation happened with a relative of mine. He currently doesn’t make payments and is considering bankruptcy. Now I’m wondering if there’s any chance the two banks can nail him for fraud, or if these fraudulent accounts are exempt from bankruptcy.
IANAL, but fines from traffic tickets or debts that resulted from criminal negligence cannot be discharged, according to this site.
From a Crim. Law course, I seem to recall that in certain jurisdictions, once restitution and/or probation is completed, the charge on these types of convictions can sometimes then be reduced to a misdemeanor, no?