Is this embezzlement, how serious the crime? Trying to decide to prosecute.

[ceomama]

What is the name of your state? GA

A girl who was office manager for 6 years, trusted, loyal friend & employee. Ran our complete office, had access to all our financials, accounts, numbers, passwords. Last week she quit, no notice but explained she appreciated all we've done for her but she needed to move on. She not only left us with noone to run our office (our p/t girl was still on vacation) Anyway she did manage to do payroll which she gave herself an extra $125 without our knowledge, but that was nothing...when our p/t girl comes in and tries to catch up on bills she notices one of our at&t cell phone bills has no file... So she calls to find out which phone it is, she was told it is not owned by our company. Turns out that it is this ex office managers personal cell phone, the charges are around 250 to 300 a month (twice then the owners bill) I find out she had her husband, daughter, mother and stepdad all on this acct that she paid eft by our company acct without our knowledge since 2005 (so roughly $9,000 we haven't added it up yet to the penny). Is this punishable by law? best & worse case, will she do jail time? or can she get off? If so what type of fine? Also we have a confidentially agreement signed by her, will she be able to discuss anything about our business books how does that work? Our books are where we found this error so if she is prosecuted does the confidentially agreement protect her from discussing this in a court of law, or is it all open at that point?

PS: We found more, like using our company credit card to pay her speeding ticket, (she was still working for us when I caught that not to long ago...and she was suppose to pay it back, I never agreed to her using it in the first place though for that reason..) She had insurance and was taking less than agreed out of her check making the company pay more of her insurance..etc..

thanks for the helpWhat is the name of your state?

 

[CavemanLawyer]

All of those mini-thefts would be aggregated into one charge of theft/embezzlement and that would definitely be a felony amount. She could also be charged separately for the unauthorized use of the credit card. She'd be looking at anything from probation to prison. You absolutely need to file on her.

Confidentiality agreements protect you, not your employees. In any case, if it doesn't rise to the level of a privilege than it is all going to come into the criminal case if its relevant.

 

[ceomama]

thank you..

Thanks, So what did you mean by level of privilege? Would that mean there could be an argument that she had the right to have us pay for some of these things? Even though we never agreed to it? and we were not aware? The phone is the worst because she was paying for not only her personal phone but all of her families phones with our company acct for many years...We thought about contacting her to settle and just pay us back to keep her from having to go to trial or is that a bad idea? As far as the credit card she told me she paid it back but I would have to look back at my books as she owed us money for a loan we gave her so it could have been that and not the speeding ticket she charged on the card. It's all a mess right now, it will take us a while to get caught up and see what else she may have done. Is there a statue of limitations? Thank you for all your help.

All of those mini-thefts would be aggregated into one charge of theft/embezzlement and that would definitely be a felony amount. She could also be charged separately for the unauthorized use of the credit card. She'd be looking at anything from probation to prison. You absolutely need to file on her.

Confidentiality agreements protect you, not your employees. In any case, if it doesn't rise to the level of a privilege than it is all going to come into the criminal case if its relevant.

 

[CavemanLawyer]

There are certain privileges that apply that keep out certain statements or documents. Its for very specific types of communications like between an attorney and their client, sometimes between spouses, etc... I was speaking broadly about criminal discovery in that virtually everything is fair game unless it qualifies as a privilege for some reason. I didn't mean to imply that that was even a possibility here, because it doesn't sound like that is the case at all.

All of the evidence that you possess now is yours and you can let the State use it against her. Any additional evidence in her possession, or in another's possession, can be used against her as well as long as it is obtained lawfully. The State will take care of all that after you file your complaint.

 

[ceomama]

thanks again...

Thank you once again.

So do I need to hire an attorney here to serve her, or call the police and let them do it? Or contact her myself and see if I can let her know that we are aware this and see if she will just pay it back without prosecuting. In any case will we be liable for lawyer fees?

In our best interest and hers would it be easier of better to just try to handle this civilly and get her to agree to pay it back somehow? If so what would be the safest way to do that? Get a legal doc drawn up?

PS: if the police serve her, then we still need an attorney, correct?
thanks again.

 

[CavemanLawyer]

This is a criminal issue. You do not need an attorney and will not need one for any stage of the prosecution. You would only need an attorney if you decided to sue her civally and it may never come to that if she agrees or is ordered to pay you restitution through the criminal case.

Contact your local police department and ask to file a complaint and then just provide them with whatever evidence they request. I would not recommend contacting this woman and trying to get her to just pay you back. That causes problems if the case is later filed. The police may give her an opportunity to avoid charges if she just pays it back, or the prosecutor later on down the line may do the same to avoid a conviction. But you need to file the report and let the authorities handle it.

 

[deborahames]

Embezzlement in Oklahoma

alright you two, go to neutral corners.
I was charged with embezzlement for having permission from my dept manager to take two mum plants and a table water fountain to my mother (on a Wed) who was in the hospital dieing of cancer and pay for them on Friday.
Another employee was told "NO" from her dept mngr when she asked a similar question so she turned my mngr into HR.
He denied ever telling me it was OK to pay for the items on Friday.
The store mngr told me if I brought the items back the following morning, everything would be dropped and I would receive a written warning.
When I got there the next morn, Lowe's had the sheriff waiting for me and charged me with embezzlement.
THEN . . . the court told me if I completed my 50hrs of cmm serv, paid a $45. fine and did not get into any trouble for 1 year the charge would be dropped off my record.
It was a misdemeanor anyway but it is still on my record.
I contacted my attorney, Greg McCracken in OKC to find out what it would take to have the charge expunged from my record. At least he was honest, he said Yeah, I could pay $2000. to have it expunged but it still would be on my record and he wouldn't take my money for a misdemeanor.
Is there ANY WAY to have this charge removed from my record?
Oklahoma has the MOST corrupted law enforcement in the USA, so I don't dare ask one of them.
Need an outside opinion and advice.
ALL is appreciated.
I just lost the job of a lifetime due to something that happened in 1997.
Respectfully

 

[>Charlotte<]

Deborahames, please start your own thread instead of hijacking.

 

[deborahames]

Sorry As Usual!

SORRY!! I was under the impression I could reply or add two cents to any thread.
Wont happen again!! OK?
Is that good for you? Are you happy?