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Obtaining money under false pretenses

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CocaCola2008

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Rhode Island

Hello,

I'm being accused of obtaining money under false pretenses. Basically what happened was I met up with an individual to purchase a gaming system which came with accessories, all together the value was about 800 dollars. I gave the individual a false name because now a days you don't know who you can trust or not. The individual gave me everything and we we're suppose to meet up again so I could give the money to him. When the day came to meet up I ended up not showing up which was a stupid idea but I lost track of time and I was unable to get a hold of him so basically stupid me thought I could get away with getting a free system. Well I was terribly wrong, the state police showed up at my house a week later, stating the indivdual had my license plate. So only one cop came to the house, he took me to his car and asked if I knew what this was about, I stated I believe so, he then went along and asked if I have the system, I told him yes, and he asked if I had paid for it and i stated no so he stated that if I was to give the system back to him he wouldn't file a report or anything because the individual just wanted his things back. So I told him that would be nice so I went ot my house and grabbed everything and brought it to the police car and he put everything in the back seat. He then asked for my name and address and information and I told him all of that and he thanked me for my cooperation. 10 minutes later he came back stating that he talked to his commander and that his commander wanted me brought in for a statement. So I was taken in the car but not handcuffed along with the merchandise he apoligized that he couldnt cut me a break. He stated that he had no idea why they wnated me brought in. The cop was talking to me about the case a little and also just bullcrapping, he also called the victim when i was in the car stating he got the stuff back and that i was in custody. So when we got there, I was handcuffed to a bench and waited to be processed. He then unhooked my cuffs then took my fingerprints and asked for my name , and then he was looking up the charge. he said he was going to put it as a misdeamnor and it was going to be obtaining goods under false pretenses under 500 dollars but he was having a hard time finding it, he even grabbed a booklet of papers looking for the charge, even I Was helping him trying to find it, then the next thing i know he just hit enter on the computer accepting whatever cahrge it was. So after that I was taken for a statement. He did read me my mirenda rights and I agreed to tell him what happened which i told the truth that I did not pay him and did not plan on doing so. After that I had to wait for the justice of the peace for bail, when i was called in, he stated I was being charged with obtaining MONEY under false pretenses OVER 500 dollars, I told him that wasn't the correct charge but he said I would have to talk to my lawyer and I was released under bail since I had no prior record only had to pay the fee for the JP to come out. I just wanted to know is there anything in there that could cause my case to get dismissed ? He didn't read my my rights when he was asking questions in the cop car? He stated he was going to let me go if i gave back the merchandise to "cut me a break". I plan on going to see a public defender on Monday to see if i qualify or not. The thing is this ended up happening while i was visiting my family the past 2 weeks. I live in the state of NH and I start my new job very soon so im not sure how that would work? My court date is 5/16 and i start i believe on may 20th and have 2 other dates in july. Also i feel that they are charging me wit the wrong charge I did not obtain any kind of money at all? Could that be something to get dismissed if they did put the wrong charge in the computer?? I even told the cop I had the money to pay the victim because he did threaten to go to the police and I still had it in my wallet which i showed him but he didn't care. He did count the money to put up property value or something that I had to sign and release. But they kept saying that I had 800 dollars not sure waht that was about. Not sure if i should talk to my public defender about to see if the charge can be changed or get it dismissed due to that reason or try to talk to the police dept because the witness of the JP stated he would have the arresting officer get a hold of me which he never has so I'm debating on what to do. I know this was a idiotic thing to do but can I ahve some advice?
Thanks BTW this is my first offense and I'm 20 years old.
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
The cop gave you one good piece of advice: talk to your lawyer about it.

Once you get arrested for a crime is too late to make restitution and hope the charges go away.

You took merchandise by giving a false name and failing to pay as agreed.

The police have probable cause to believe a crime was committed. That's all they need. The prosecutor will now figure out on exactly what charges to proceed. If the charge you were arrested on isn't appropriate, they will modify it or dismiss it. Either way, having a lawyer to "help influence" that decision in your favor would be in your interest.

As for the charge, I suspect you were charged with 11-41-4. This is the statute that starts off with "money, goods, etc..." so the shorthand way of referring to it iis money by false pretenses. It covers goods, it covers your misrepresentation of your identity, you appear guilty as hell. It's 2-15 years in jail. You need a lawyer.
Missing a couple of days of work is the LEAST of your issues.
 

CocaCola2008

Junior Member
I understand now. If you look it up online it states first time offense is less than jail time. So it's a bad idea to try to call the arresting officer because he told me and my parents that he was going to charge me with a misdeameanor?
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
You don't talk to the arresting officer at this point, you higher a lawyer to negotiate with whoever is involved in the prosecution. They are your adversaries at this point.
 

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