Whether you are young and have been accused of shoplifting or you have grown children and are charged with fraud, you need an experienced lawyer to defend you. No matter your age, background, and current charges, Law Offices of Forrest R. Miller offers an objective analysis of your situation. Instead of letting your emotions fuel your strategy, your theft attorney will use a level head to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the prosecutor's position.
California Theft Law
Theft crimes in California are outlined in a number of statutes. However, the general theft statute is California Penal Code (PC) Section 484. This law describes actions that entail theft.
You may be charged with theft if you:
- Unlawfully take, carry, or drive away another person's property
- Fraudulently appropriate property entrusted to you by the owner
- Defraud another person of money, real or personal property, or labor through false or fraudulent representations or pretense
- Cause another person to falsify your wealth or character, receive credit with a business, and then fraudulently obtain money, property, labor, or services
This statute is important if you are charged with theft. It means that you can be charged with a theft offense even if you did not physically walk off with another person or business's property. You can be charged with theft based on telling lies or maintaining misrepresentations.
When you face a theft crime investigation or charge, the best thing you can do for yourself is to speak with a theft lawyer. At Law Offices of Forrest R. Miller, we will determine whether we have a chance to have the charges dropped or dismissed. If not, we will focus on having the charges reduced, negotiating a plea deal, or fighting for an acquittal in court.
California Theft Crimes
Our legal team at Law Offices of Forrest R. Miller is ready to take on any type of theft case, including:
Petty Theft (Shoplifting)
PC Section 488 defines petty theft as all other thefts that are not grand theft. Any unlawful appropriation of money, property, or labor worth less than $950 will be charged as petty theft. This encompasses the crime most commonly referred to as shoplifting (PC Section 459.5), which occurs when someone takes items that are for sale from a store without paying.
If you are accused of petty theft, you will be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in the county jail and fines reaching $1,000. However, for theft of property or services worth less than $50, your attorney may argue for prosecutors to reduce the charge to an infraction, which enables you to avoid incarceration.
Second or subsequent charges of petty theft are more serious. If you have theft convictions on your record already, then you may face a felony offense for a relatively small amount of stolen property, making it even more important that you contact a theft attorney.
Grand Theft
Grand theft is defined in PC Section 487(a) as stealing or appropriating another person's money, property, or services worth $950 or more. Under Section 487(1)(A), you can be charged with grand theft if you unlawfully obtain certain produce (including olives and avocados), farm animals (domestic fowls), or aqua-cultural products (including shellfish and crustaceans), worth $250 or more. Section 487(d)(1) states you may face grand theft if you steal a vehicle or firearm.
This offense is a wobbler. It may be charged as either a misdemeanor or felony based on the prosecutor's discretion. If you are charged with a misdemeanor for grand theft, you may be sentenced to up to one year in a county jail and fined up to $1,000. A felony could result in three years in prison and maximum fines reaching $10,000. However, your penalty may be greater depending on the value of the stolen property or labor.
If you are facing a felony charge for grand theft, do not wait to call a theft lawyer. Your best chance of a not guilty verdict is to work with an experienced criminal defense attorney.
Grand Theft Auto
If you are accused of stealing any type of motor vehicle, then prosecutors may charge you with a misdemeanor or felony. A misdemeanor may result in a maximum of one year in county jail and fines reaching $1,000. A felony results in far worse consequences, including up to three years in prison, and fines reaching $10,000.
However, under California Vehicle Code Section 10851, if you steal an ambulance, marked fire department vehicle, or a disabled veteran's modified vehicle, then you may be charged with a felony, punishable by up to four years in prison and $10,000 in fines. This section also covers “joyriding,” during which you may take someone else's vehicle without permission and without the intent to permanently steal it. If you are being accused of stealing a car even though you had no intention of keeping it for yourself or in some other way depriving the owner of it, call an attorney right away. You should not face a felony for grand theft when joyriding is typically charged as a misdemeanor.
Burglary
Burglary entails entering a structure or certain vehicles without permission, or remaining in a structure without consent, with the intent to commit any theft or other felony. Per PC Section 459, relevant structures include homes, apartments, stores, warehouses, tents, vessels, railroad cars, cargo containers, campers, aircraft, and more.
Based on PC Section 460, any burglary of an inhabited dwelling is first-degree burglary. This is punishable with up to six years in prison. All other commissions of this offense are second-degree burglary, which may be penalized with up to one year in jail.
Whether or not the structure you allegedly burgled was an inhabited dwelling or not makes a significant difference to your case. If you are being charged with first-degree burglary and you believe this is wrong, do not hesitate to call a theft lawyer. At Law Offices of Forrest R. Miller, we will fight for your charges to be reduced before we must fight them in court or negotiate a plea bargain.
Vandalism
Related to the unlawful taking of another person's property is vandalism, the offense of damaging or defacing someone else's property. Under PC Section 594, vandalism is defined as damaging another person's real or personal property with malicious intent with graffiti or other inscribed material.
Like many theft offenses, the charge you face for vandalism depends on the value of the property you allegedly damaged. If you caused damage valued at less than $400, you face a misdemeanor that is punishable by up to one year in jail and fines reaching $1,000. For damage worth more than $400, you face a wobbler. If prosecutors charge you with a felony, you may be incarcerated for up to three years and fined up to $10,000.
Let a Theft Attorney Help You
If you have been accused of any type of theft crime in California, the best thing to do for yourself is to contact an experienced and aggressive lawyer at Law Offices of Forrest R. Miller. If you try and handle your defense yourself, you will be at a disadvantage. A prosecutor knows what they are doing in court and how to manipulate you into an unfair plea bargain. You are much more likely to achieve a not-guilty verdict or to suffer minimal consequences upon conviction with a theft lawyer on your side.
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