False information given to obtain arrest warrant

What is the name of your state? Kentucky

Some money went missing from a safe at work (about $1000). Nobody knows the exact date because nobody was in the safe for about a week, but it happened within a one week span. The HR manager obtained a warrant and had a recently laid off employee arrested. She was out within hours but now will face a trial. The only evidence was that she was one of the two or three people that had a key to the safe, which she had given to the HR manager (the HR manager denied this) before she was let go. No one else was arrested.

1. Can someone actually have another person arrested on such little evidence? I've been told that you can take an arrest warrant out on anybody for a filing fee.

Many suspect that the HR manager took the money herself and this is a ruse to take suspcion away from herself. She has complained of money troubles and has shown some paranoid tendencies and lying behavior for a few months. If the former employer is found 'not guilty' (which most of us are certain will be the case) 2. will it be possible to have the HR manager charged with having a false arrest warrant issued? If so, 3. what kind of evidence will be needed?

Thank you for all input

You need to get a lawyer.

The cops will not ask the prosecutor to get a warrant unless there is good evidence to do so.

Sorry,

I guess my question wasn't clear enough. If found that the person requesting the warrant gave false information to get the warrant, how do we go about getting her to justice?

Thebeebster said:

Sorry,

I guess my question wasn't clear enough. If found that the person requesting the warrant gave false information to get the warrant, how do we go about getting her to justice?

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If the person who contacted the police, falsified, or manufactured evidence in order to have someone arrested for charges which they are aware the person did not commit, that person would most certainly be arrested. The innocent party who was charged with the crime could also file a civil claim against the person who knowingly had them arrested by presenting falsified evidence.

Only thing you have to do is prove this to be the case.

You should also consider the fact that the warrant wouldn't have been issued for this persons arrest, based solely on the manager's hunch. Additionally, according to your post, there were several employees who had the key/access to this safe. The police or detectives handling the case, are not going to request an arrest warrant on any one individual who had access, unless there is strong evidence which could prove this person was guilty before a court of law.
The DA, upon reviewing the evidence, will not proceed with the case if the only evidence is one person's suspicion that so and so is responsible for the theft. They could never win the case on such nonsense, even if that person's suspicions are indeed correct.

So there is more to the story than you are probably aware of. I'm sure the DA doesn't share his case files with you or any other employees. So I don't know why you believe there is no evidence other than this HR manager's opinion of who's guilty.

Has anyone been asked to take a polygraph examination concerning this caper?

The HR manager was asked to take a polygraph test AFTER she had the person arrested. Her boss and higher management were unaware that she had this warrant taken out. I don't know the outcome, but know that it can't be used against her other than too freak her out to the point of confessing if indeed she was guilty.

The reason many of us suspect that she made evidence up is because her behavior has been strange for months. She has been complaining about her own pay and financial problems, and has been helping a married director hide an affair with a coworker, cries in her office, and hasn't been following up on her HR responsibilities. Almost acts as if there is a drug or mental illness problem.

She been doing a lot of things lately without thinking of the consequences so I don't doubt that she would make up evidence.

Thebeebster said:

What is the name of your state? Kentucky

Some money went missing from a safe at work (about $1000). Nobody knows the exact date because nobody was in the safe for about a week, but it happened within a one week span. The HR manager obtained a warrant and had a recently laid off employee arrested. She was out within hours but now will face a trial. The only evidence was that she was one of the two or three people that had a key to the safe, which she had given to the HR manager (the HR manager denied this) before she was let go. No one else was arrested.

1. Can someone actually have another person arrested on such little evidence?

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The HR manager didn't obtain the warrant. She contacted the police, the police investigated, they presented whatever information they had to a magistrate, and the magistrate decided there was probable cause based on the information the police presented. It was the magistrate who issued the warrant.

Unless you've seen the PC affidavit - the sworn statement the police presented to the magistrate - you don't actually know why the suspect was arrested.

I've been told that you can take an arrest warrant out on anybody for a filing fee.

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You were told wrong.

Many suspect that the HR manager took the money herself and this is a ruse to take suspcion away from herself. She has complained of money troubles and has shown some paranoid tendencies and lying behavior for a few months. If the former employer is found 'not guilty' (which most of us are certain will be the case) 2. will it be possible to have the HR manager charged with having a false arrest warrant issued?

Click to expand...

If the police decide there's evidence she gave a false report, they can present a PC affidavit to a magistrate, and if he agrees, he can sign a warrant for her arrest.

This is unlikely. For one thing, the police believe her, or they wouldn't have arrested the suspect in the first place.

If so, 3. what kind of evidence will be needed?

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Evidence that she intentionally lied to the police.

If the defendant is ultimately acquitted, that does not mean (1.) that she was innocent, or (2.) that the manager lied.

Well, I found out that it was a probably cause hearing not a trial. It was yesterday and they dismissed it for lack of evidence. It never even went before the judge.

I still don't understand how without proper evidence the HR manager manged to get the police to go to my friends home, handcuff her and haul her away.

Thebeebster said:

Well, I found out that it was a probably cause hearing not a trial. It was yesterday and they dismissed it for lack of evidence. It never even went before the judge.

I still don't understand how without proper evidence the HR manager manged to get the police to go to my friends home, handcuff her and haul her away.

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That's because the HR didn't do that...s/he filed a complaint and the police acted upon that info.

Thanks Baystategirl. That response makes the most sense.

So you can basically just say somebody did somehing without appropriate evidence and have them hauled away (if you are dishonest enough to pull such a stunt). People were telling me there had to be evidence or the police wouldn't get a warrant, but obviously there wasn't evidence because it was dismissed for lack of.

thanks

Thebeebster said:

Thanks Baystategirl. That response makes the most sense.

So you can basically just say somebody did somehing without appropriate evidence and have them hauled away (if you are dishonest enough to pull such a stunt). People were telling me there had to be evidence or the police wouldn't get a warrant, but obviously there wasn't evidence because it was dismissed for lack of.

thanks

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You are not understanding. A judge would not sign a warrant unless s/he felt the evidence was sufficient. A warrant is not signed simply because one person accusses another of something. However, it does happen that the charges are dropped after a warrant has been obtained.

Thebeebster, are you sure there was actually a warrant issued by a judge? Could it be that this HR manager reported to the police that she knew who the person was that took the money and the police acted upon that information without a warrant?

The judge may have signed an arrest warrant, if she claimed she was actually a witness to the crime as it was being committed. But I find it hard to believe that a judge would do so based on someone's unfounded suspicion. This woman would had to have first convinced the police investigators that she knew who committed the crime and they would in turn, request the warrant for arrest from a judge. The Judge would review the evidence submitted with their request and make the final decision as to whether the evidence, as reported, gave reason to believe that a particular person was responsible for the crime. The Judge would only issue the arrest warrant, if he/she felt the evidence was strong enough to justify doing so.

I would think that a Judge would be pretty upset with anyone who intentionally falsified evidence which he/she then relied upon to issue a warrant, for which an innocent person was arrested, placed in custody and required to post bail for their release.

Keep in mind of course, that charges being dropped does not translate to, or support the fact that a person was innocent of the crime. It only indicates that the prosecution didn't believe the evidence was strong enough to gain a conviction.

If your friend could prove that the HR manager intentionally fabricated evidence against her, for vindictive or self serving reasons (like taking the heat off of herself) she could not only have the HR manager arrested for criminal charges, but such outrageous conduct could also win her a civil judgment as well. In a case such as this, I could see a Judge awarding substantial punitive damages, even if the actual financial loss your friend suffered wasn't that tremendous.

The HR manager filed the complaint AFTER my friend filed a civil suit for wrongful termination (retailitory). So I think instead of filing criminal charges against her, they will include this as part of the civil suit. Apparently, the HR manager's complaint was worded as such that the money was missing on one day which was a Sunday and my friend came into the building on that day etc...

However, she failed to mention that 20 people were in the building on that Sunday and we allow workers to work on Sundays. We also called witnesses that heard her say that the money went missing sometime within a 7 day period, not the one day she said in the complaint.

Rumor is, when the civil suit is settled, she's getting the sack, but right now they need her to say what they tell her to say in case the civil case goes to trial and if she's fired now, she'll just be a loose cannon. Or at least looser than she is now.