Rent a center criminal case, cost me my job

[johbkmj]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[johbkmj]

In February of 2016, I began the rental of a washer and dryer from Rent-A-Center when I moved into my apartment. In November of 2016, I lost my job and fell behind on payments. I had made several calls to RAC advising of trouble paying for this and they advised that they would work with me as I was a customer in good standing. Not long after, they began to call about the payments being late, so I advised that they could come get the washer and dryer because I was being evicted due to being behind on rent. They continued to call numerous times and I advised the items were still at Canal St in Dover, PA where I was currently living but getting ready to move because of the eviction. They continued to not come pick up the washer and dryer. I had rented a U-Haul to move my stuff into a house that I became eligible to rent, RAC would not let me return the washer and dryer while I had the truck because they were not open on Sundays. I notified RAC on two different occasions that the washer and dryer were still at the new address in Dover, PA and were covered in blankets to not get dusty, as the new house came with it's own washer and dryer. They still refused to pick up the merchandise. When my fiancé finally got a little angry and called, he spoke to a gentleman at the York, PA Rent-A-Center where I had rented them from, the gentleman who had an accent but did not obtain his name, would not help, when my fiancé asked to speak to a supervisor, he told him to find the number himself and go **** himself.


I was then served with papers from the Northern York Regional Police Department advising that I was being charged. I had to be fingerprinted and I was charged with a Felony 3 of Receiving Stolen Property and a Felony 3 of Theft of Leased Services. Since I was not guilty of this and I still had the property that they refused to pick up, I decided to take this to trial. They wanted me to pay over $1,600, even after almost a year of weekly payments, on a washer and dryer that cost $400 for both in a store brand new. I did not take the deal and decided to take it to trial. I have an attorney that I am working with. Through my several court appearances, on the last one, which was December 5, 2017, the District Attorney advised that they are dropping them from felonies to misdemeanors but that we were still going to trial. The trial was to be in the January term, but then got pushed back to the March term.


The company that I work for was bought out by UPMC, so all employees had to go through the process of hiring again, including a background check. I put on my application of the situation with RAC and that I was only charged, NOT convicted, as the trial is coming up. Since the hearing in December when the DA stated that it was downed to misdemeanors, I did put on my application with UPMC that they were not felonies, they were misdemeanors. However, the disposition does not change until after the trial verdict, therefore still showing Felony 3 charges. UPMC has terminated my offer for employment and as of March 4, 2018, I will no longer be employed, as this is when they are taking over. It was stated by them that I had intentionally lied on my application that my charges were misdemeanors, but they are felonies, which is not true from what the DA stated at the hearing about them being lowered.


These charges should be dropped during my trial, however, the trial takes place after the UPMC takeover on March 4, 2018 and I will be out of a job by then. Rent-A-Center is absolutely at fault here and because of them, I am going to lose my job that I love, I will lose my car and my house and more than likely, being homeless, I will lose custody of my daughter to her father. I need to take this to the press, news outlet, whoever will listen to what Rent-A-Center is doing, acting like loan sharks and putting false charges on people and literally ruining their lives and costing people their jobs. Even so, this should be a civil matter, not a criminal matter, if anything at all.

Any thoughts or advice?

 

[johbkmj]

Oh and I've never been in trouble before

 

[cbg]

My thought is and my advice is that since you have an attorney who knows far more of the circumstances than random strangers on the internet, you should be asking your questions of him.

 

[johbkmj]

I guess I'm just looking for others thoughts or experiences. He's a public defender so I don't really get to talk with him a lot, or get no response

 

[Just Blue]

In February of 2016, I began the rental of a washer and dryer from Rent-A-Center when I moved into my apartment. In November of 2016, I lost my job and fell behind on payments. I had made several calls to RAC advising of trouble paying for this and they advised that they would work with me as I was a customer in good standing. Not long after, they began to call about the payments being late, so I advised that they could come get the washer and dryer because I was being evicted due to being behind on rent. They continued to call numerous times and I advised the items were still at Canal St in Dover, PA where I was currently living but getting ready to move because of the eviction. They continued to not come pick up the washer and dryer. I had rented a U-Haul to move my stuff into a house that I became eligible to rent, RAC would not let me return the washer and dryer while I had the truck because they were not open on Sundays. I notified RAC on two different occasions that the washer and dryer were still at the new address in Dover, PA and were covered in blankets to not get dusty, as the new house came with it's own washer and dryer. They still refused to pick up the merchandise. When my fiancé finally got a little angry and called, he spoke to a gentleman at the York, PA Rent-A-Center where I had rented them from, the gentleman who had an accent but did not obtain his name, would not help, when my fiancé asked to speak to a supervisor, he told him to find the number himself and go **** himself.


I was then served with papers from the Northern York Regional Police Department advising that I was being charged. I had to be fingerprinted and I was charged with a Felony 3 of Receiving Stolen Property and a Felony 3 of Theft of Leased Services. Since I was not guilty of this and I still had the property that they refused to pick up, I decided to take this to trial. They wanted me to pay over $1,600, even after almost a year of weekly payments, on a washer and dryer that cost $400 for both in a store brand new. I did not take the deal and decided to take it to trial. I have an attorney that I am working with. Through my several court appearances, on the last one, which was December 5, 2017, the District Attorney advised that they are dropping them from felonies to misdemeanors but that we were still going to trial. The trial was to be in the January term, but then got pushed back to the March term.


The company that I work for was bought out by UPMC, so all employees had to go through the process of hiring again, including a background check. I put on my application of the situation with RAC and that I was only charged, NOT convicted, as the trial is coming up. Since the hearing in December when the DA stated that it was downed to misdemeanors, I did put on my application with UPMC that they were not felonies, they were misdemeanors. However, the disposition does not change until after the trial verdict, therefore still showing Felony 3 charges. UPMC has terminated my offer for employment and as of March 4, 2018, I will no longer be employed, as this is when they are taking over. It was stated by them that I had intentionally lied on my application that my charges were misdemeanors, but they are felonies, which is not true from what the DA stated at the hearing about them being lowered.


These charges should be dropped during my trial, however, the trial takes place after the UPMC takeover on March 4, 2018 and I will be out of a job by then. Rent-A-Center is absolutely at fault here and because of them, I am going to lose my job that I love, I will lose my car and my house and more than likely, being homeless, I will lose custody of my daughter to her father. I need to take this to the press, news outlet, whoever will listen to what Rent-A-Center is doing, acting like loan sharks and putting false charges on people and literally ruining their lives and costing people their jobs. Even so, this should be a civil matter, not a criminal matter, if anything at all.

Any thoughts or advice?

For 20 bucks you could have rented a U-Haul and returned the W&D yourself and avoided this situation. jus' sayin'.

Note I did not offer any legal advice as you have an attorney.

 

[johbkmj]

Yeah but they refused from the get go to take them or come get them.

 

[justalayman]

Yeah but they refused from the get go to take them or come get them.

you said the only refused to take them one time and that was because their business was not open on the day you had the uhaul. That is not refusing to take them.

If you move, it is your responsibility to ensure the appliances are dealt with properly. That doesn’t mean leaving them at your old apartment where there isn’t anybody there to allow the driver in to pick them up or where they’re subject to being stolen. The famous last words from the landlord; they weren’t here when I came in to prep the apartment for new tenants. You won’t be able to overcome that with RAC. It’s your responsibility to make certain either you remain in control of the appliances until they are in RAC’s hands.


As to the felony v. Misdemeanor thing;

What is charged is up to the DA. As far as it being a felony or misdemeanor; until the charges are amended, you are currently being charged with a felony. Until the court signs off on an plea agreement, nothing has changed.

 

[johbkmj]

They were not left at my old place, and they are in my basement covered in blankets so they do not get Dusty. I made several attempts to have them come get them or for me to find a way to get them there and they refused both.

 

[johbkmj]

This was not a one-time shot of hey I have a truck I'll bring them and they said no. And they were notified twice of my brand new address so nothing was stolen, I have them, they just refuse to do anything but it's okay, I'll just wait for my trial and go from there

 

[justalayman]

They were not left at my old place, and they are in my basement covered in blankets so they do not get Dusty. I made several attempts to have them come get them or for me to find a way to get them there and they refused both.

Well if that’s the case then the theft allegations should be easy to clear up. Rent a truck and deliver them to RAC, with your attorneys knowledge and permission of course.

You do owe something for the rental costs though. That is based on your contract. If you can argue they should not be charged due to RAC failing to retrieve them, so be it but that is likely to be decided in a civil court.

 

[Zigner]

As I mentioned in your new (and unnecessary) thread, the onus is on YOU to return the items. They have no obligation to pick them up.

 

[CTU]

Frankly I'm surprised at the audacity of painting RAC as the bad guys in this.

... or maybe I shouldn't be so surprised.

 

[xylene]

Return may be too late.

Let's be honest. Rent-A-Center is vile predatory loanshark scum using the criminal justice system to resolve a civil non-payment matter. PA is a piece of garbage state to even allow this.

BUT. BUT BUT - just like arguing over what you'd need a time machine to fix (when to return it) these are moot points.

Quite honestly, you may not be able to return the items at this time anyway. Returning them could be a big waste and get you nothing, or more trouble.

The reality is that you will need to pay off the 1600 bucks, whether that is worth it or not. You very likely CANNOT get out of that no matter what you do, return it or not. Paying that money may change your court case. But it won't go away.

 

[Zigner]

Let's be honest. Rent-A-Center is vile predatory loanshark scum using the criminal justice system to resolve a civil non-payment matter.

Actually, it's a criminal case. If it weren't, the state wouldn't be pursuing.

PA is a piece of garbage state to even allow this.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that most (if not all) states have similar criminal statutes on the books about this.

BUT. BUT BUT - just like arguing over what you'd need a time machine to fix (when to return it) these are moot points.

Quite honestly, you may not be able to return the items at this time anyway. Returning them could be a big waste and get you nothing, or more trouble.

The reality is that you will need to pay off the 1600 bucks, whether that is worth it or not. You very likely CANNOT get out of that no matter what you do, return it or not. Paying that money may change your court case. But it won't go away.

Agreed.