SeekingAdvice12
Junior Member
This is occurring in New Jersey.
My friend finds himself caught in a bad situation. A man whose name will be John in this post, has been a friend to a family (for close to 10 years) that owns a small business. He has always worked full-time and worked at this family's small business on and off whenever they were shorthanded. He was very good friends with the father from this family, Doug. Doug happens to have an addiction to prescription pills, which he obtains illegally and abuses regularly.
For a span of a few months, Doug's family allowed John to move into their basement because John could no longer stay with family members due to a home foreclosure. This shows how close Doug's family and John were at this time, so a mutual respect was surely there. Recently, Doug's addiction to pills has been getting worse and he isn't able to afford this terrible habit. Doug's wife Cindy is oblivious to his addiction. Here is where it becomes terrifying.
Doug had previously given a few random items to John to pawn at a local store so he could make extra cash to purchase illegal pills. John thought nothing of this. He was doing a favor for Doug since he was a good friend and Doug was constantly tending to his business having no time to pawn these items. With Doug's addiction getting worse, Doug stole some jewelry from his wife Cindy, and gave this jewelry to John to sell at a pawn shop. Again, John does not ask questions and pawns these items for Doug as if it were just another favor.
Fast forward a few weeks/months, Cindy notices the jewelry missing and Doug lies about this saying "he knows nothing about the missing jewelry". Now Doug is trying to frame this as a THEFT by John, so Cindy does not find out about Doug's addiction. With Doug lying to Cindy and saying it must be John, Cindy must have informed the police because John has been contacted by the local police. John has been visited by detectives and has explained the story as I have come to explain it to you.
He has not been served a warrant yet, but the detectives have video footage of him at the stores selling the items(because this is what Doug asked him to do).
Is there some kind of legal defensive strategy to take against these allegations?
Is there a way to diffuse this situation where no one gets charged? (because John would fight this case and try Doug for perjury)
What kind of advice do you have for proceeding with circumstances such as these?
I informed this friend that the first thing to do if presented with a warrant is just repeat "I want a lawyer". Until then, is it acceptable to still give them the true details of the story? (especially because he really has nothing to hide)
My friend finds himself caught in a bad situation. A man whose name will be John in this post, has been a friend to a family (for close to 10 years) that owns a small business. He has always worked full-time and worked at this family's small business on and off whenever they were shorthanded. He was very good friends with the father from this family, Doug. Doug happens to have an addiction to prescription pills, which he obtains illegally and abuses regularly.
For a span of a few months, Doug's family allowed John to move into their basement because John could no longer stay with family members due to a home foreclosure. This shows how close Doug's family and John were at this time, so a mutual respect was surely there. Recently, Doug's addiction to pills has been getting worse and he isn't able to afford this terrible habit. Doug's wife Cindy is oblivious to his addiction. Here is where it becomes terrifying.
Doug had previously given a few random items to John to pawn at a local store so he could make extra cash to purchase illegal pills. John thought nothing of this. He was doing a favor for Doug since he was a good friend and Doug was constantly tending to his business having no time to pawn these items. With Doug's addiction getting worse, Doug stole some jewelry from his wife Cindy, and gave this jewelry to John to sell at a pawn shop. Again, John does not ask questions and pawns these items for Doug as if it were just another favor.
Fast forward a few weeks/months, Cindy notices the jewelry missing and Doug lies about this saying "he knows nothing about the missing jewelry". Now Doug is trying to frame this as a THEFT by John, so Cindy does not find out about Doug's addiction. With Doug lying to Cindy and saying it must be John, Cindy must have informed the police because John has been contacted by the local police. John has been visited by detectives and has explained the story as I have come to explain it to you.
He has not been served a warrant yet, but the detectives have video footage of him at the stores selling the items(because this is what Doug asked him to do).
Is there some kind of legal defensive strategy to take against these allegations?
Is there a way to diffuse this situation where no one gets charged? (because John would fight this case and try Doug for perjury)
What kind of advice do you have for proceeding with circumstances such as these?
I informed this friend that the first thing to do if presented with a warrant is just repeat "I want a lawyer". Until then, is it acceptable to still give them the true details of the story? (especially because he really has nothing to hide)
