A question about forgery????.....read here.......anyone in law enforcement?

Question

My uncle was married for 25 years to a woman who turned into a meth head 2 years ago. They have been divorced for about a year now. Yesterday, she came to his house to "visit her grown son" and stole a check from my uncles checkbook. He was not home at the time. She made the check out to cash for $1500.00 and went to a Wachovia bank in alabama and cashed it. (we live in GA) She even signed her name on the back of the damn check. The bank reimbursed my uncle, but who is responsible for prosecuting her? What are the charges besides forgery?

Answer 1

The only entity that can prosecute her is the state's District attorney's office (called State attorney's office in some states) unless it is deemed a federal offense in which the United states attorney's office can prosecute but it is unlikely that they would for this one isolated offense.

The procedure is as follows:

The victim, here there are two possible victims that could request that formal charges be brought, (1) your uncle b/c it was his checkbook, his funds etc IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT THE BANK HAS REIMBURSSED HIM, CHARGES ARE NOT DROPPED OR DECLINES SOLEY B/C RESTITUTION HAS BEEN MADE
(2) the bank that is out of pocket the money, the bank that returned the funds to you uncle.

The victim has to fill out an affidavit of prosecution, or go to the local police department where the crime occured and speak to the police and swear out an affidavit seeking prosecution. Basically this involves just telling the police what happened, swearing that he did not give her the authority to take the check. provide the names of any potential witnesses, (anyone who was in the home at the time she visited and the check was taken)

next the police will invesigate the alleged crime, they will take witness statements from anyone who can provide useful information. Not jsut family members, but they will have to interview bank employees.

when the police conclude their investigation WHICH WILL INCLUDE TAKING A STATEMEMENT FROM THE DEFENDANT (YOUR UNCLE'S EX WIFE) if they can locate her. If she makes an admission after being given her Miranda warnings, then it is more likely that th District Attorney's office will accept the case for prosecution

The law enforment agency fowards their file (investigation) including a hand writing analysis to indicate that the person who signed her name to the back of the check is the same person as the one being charged , the district attorney's office screens all incoming files to determine whether or not to prosecute. They have to be reasonably certain that they can prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. depending on the DA's office, the criteria they look at varies. Large offices with tens of thousands of new cases each week, weed out the cases that are too difficult to prosecute. Smaller areas take just about every case, some offices do what is called "rubber stamp" the police departments suggested charge. But those who carefully screen cases do not do this, they do not file what the police initially charge (just b/c the police conclude it) they may agree, or thay may not charge at all, or they may ammend the charge to one that is more appropriate and that fits the elements of the crime. In any event is completely up to the discretion of the distrcit attorney's office to dtermine what if any charges will be brought. IT HELPS TREMENDOUSLY IF THEY KNOW THAT THE VICTIM IS ADAMENT ABOUT PROSECUTING AND WILL BE THERE TO FOLLOW THE CASE THROUGH THE JUDICIAL PROCESS. (so if you really want the case prosecuted, it is to you benefit to make this known to the DA's office and to call and check the status of the case often (CAREFUL NOT TO CONFUSE CHECKING THE STATUS OF THE CASE WITH BECOMING A BURDEN, A NAG, THAT NO ONE WANTS TO SPEAK TO

the district attorneys office then files a bill of information or whatever the formal charging document is called in your state. If not already arrested for the offense, the defendant is issued a summont to appear in court to answer to the charges. They appear the first time and are usually arraigned, (informed of the nature of the charges against them, and of their rights to an attorney, bail, a jury trial, etc. and that if they cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed by the court to represent them. once they have an attorney either hired (private attorney) or appointed (public defended or indigent defender) she will be asked to enter a plea. At this early stage 99.99999% enter a plea of not guilty. This gives the attorney an opportunity to request disovery from the state (all of the information and evidence that the state has against the defendant) time to talk with the client about the possibilty of being aquitted or found guilty if to go to trial, discuss plea bargain options with the state, file appropraite motions, like a motion to supress the confession if one was made, motion to exclude evidence illegally obtained etc.

The case is then set for another hearing, usually a few months away, often called a pre-trial conference. At this point the attorney knows more about the case and is a better postion to make an informed recommendation to the client and/or to bargain with the state. The state has so mnay cases, it would be impossible to go to trial on each one, so many cases (most cases are actually handled by plea agreement) the ideal situation is to come to a resolution that the defendant, victim, state can all live with, agree to and that the judge will accept.

If no agreement can be reached then the case will be set for trial. It can take months to years for a case to finally go to trial. The state tries to clear out older cases first, but high profile cases, homicides, cases tha involve having a child testify will always rake priority over a fraud case on the trial docket. trial dockets usually set aside a certaoin number of weeks per year for jury trials, it can be as often as evey three weeks in large cities to a few a three jury terms per division each year. Ie in a rural area where you have only three division, 3 judges and the judges handle criminal matters, civil matters and possibly even juvenile matters, then you will have fewer jury terms, each of the three judges may have only three weeks per year set aside for the hearing of criminal jury trials, that means nine total weeks, but once the case is assigned to a particuliar division for exampple division "B' or division"2" it can only go to trial when the presiding judge for that division has a scheduled jury term.

The facts of your case pose an additional issue, and that is jurisdiction. Where will or should the defendant be charged. To prosecute a case, charges must be brought in the county or parish (louisiana) where the offense occured. Here, you have two possible jurisdictions that could initiate prosecution. (1) The county in Georgia where the check was stolen (2) the county in Alabama were the check was passed (given to the bank in exchange for cash) the two district attorneys office will have to get together and determine themost appropraite and feesible place to bring the charges. From experience, I can say that it is more probable that charges will be brought in Georgia, but one thing that the District attorney's office will have to take into account when making the decision is that the person who took the check from the defendant and cashed it , will be required to testify and idenify the person who presented the check, so Georgia will eat the cost of bringing the neccessray witnesses to alababma to testify. This normally will not prevent prosecution b/c when the charges are made and the defendant is formally accused and relaizes the evidence against her she i likely to opt for a plea bargain as opposed to a jury trial, which normally exposes her to a substanially less penalty.

Another issue here is that the defense will undoubtedly argue that because they were married for 25 years that your uncle had given her implied or express authority to write checks from his account. If during the marriage and ESPECIALLY AFTER THE DIVORCE IF HE EVER KNOWINGLY ALLOWED HER TO USE HIS CHECKS IT WILL HURT YOUR CHANCES OF PROSECUTION, even if he did not expressly give permission, but she often took checks and he did nothing about it, she may be deemed to have his implied authority.

of course this must be his own personal checking account, if it is a joint account, she cannot be prosecuted

Forgery is the msot appropriate charge, fraud, possibly theft by fraud

Answer 2

This type of crime does violate federal law because banks are insured by the FDIC. So, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Georgia could prosecute this person. However, I'm not sure that they would be interested in it because it is such a relatively small amount of money (compared to the big bucks that get stolen frequently). The Georgia attorney general's office could prosecute this as well. That is far more likely given the small amount of money. Your uncle could go to the local police and fill out a complaint. The bank may already be pursuing criminal action. Your uncle could possibly just add his information to what the bank has already done. He should talk to the department at the bank that deals with those issues to find out.

Answer 3

The stealing of the checks crime would be under the jurisdiction of where your uncle lives.

The forgery and other felonies would fall under the Alabama jurisdictions.

Your uncle would get somewhere faster by calling the police in Alabama. He should find out where the bank is and get the phone number for the local police. If he makes it clear that she is continuously doing this and he wants his checks back, they should act.

His local law enforcement will work with the Alabama law enforcement, but it may take some effort on his part.

The possible crimes include.

grand larceny, trespassing, bank fraud, identity theft

Because this deals with checks, it falls under the FBI's jurisdiction (remember the movie Catch Me If You Can?).
The amount is sufficient for a jail sentence in the state of Alabama.

Your uncle does not need permission from your bank to press charges because it is his identity she stole when she forged it.

Answer 4

First, he needs to report the theft of the check to your local police in GA. Include all of the details of what happened and how she cashed the check in AL. Next, he needs to contact the bank and urge them to press charges against her. Since the bank reimbursed your uncle, they are now technically the victim. (With any luck, Wachovia is your uncle's bank.)

His ex could face the following charges (depending on GA & AL state law):

Theft (of the check), burglary, forgery, & grand theft (of the money). There can be additional charges related to the passing of the check itself.

Answer 5

If you file a police report they will take it from there. The bank in Alabama will have to file a theft/forgery report on their end because they are a victim as well. In your Uncle's case, there should be an identity theft law that would cover what your aunt had done.

Answer 6

If the bank reimbursed your uncle, then they took responsibility. In England, stealing a cheque, forging a signature and presenting it for payment for cash would be classed as theft and obtaining money under false pretences, regardless of whether she were legally his wife or not.

The police should be responsible for charging her with theft and would accordingly prosecute her. The bank will probably be in on the act.

Answer 7

The state should automatically press charges and there are at least 2 felony charges. Offering a forged check and forging a check. There could also be a burglary charge but maybe not since she was let in the house. I would call the cops and see what they say. Glad your uncle got rid of her.

Answer 8

Ok here's the thing....I would still call the police department and report her. The bank should do it....however, I would still call and talk to a detective about it. Since the check was stolen from your uncle's home, call your local police dept first.

At least he got his money back from the bank.

Here's a quote indicating that banks do contact the police dept:
"Ronchi said he was contacted by the State St. branch of Bank North, which provided a surveillance photo of a man who cashed the check, made out to Gale for $750. That check, said Ronchi, was reported stolen by a Newmarket couple whose home was burglarized a week prior. "
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/01062006/news/81443.htm

Your uncle might need to be concerned about identity theft. I would tell him to monitor his credit reports just to be sure.

Answer 9

She is indeed in big trouble as federal charges may well come into play for intrastate bank fraud in addition to the forgery charge both of which could put her behind bars for a good number of years . She will face federal charges from a federal court in her area and or both be extradited back to Georgia to face local theft charges as well.

Answer 10

I'd call the cops myself. Ask their advice, maybe they will pick it up on their own even without your uncle calling, especially if he is elderly, since that could be charged as elderly abuse. Just give em a call, they will know what the law is in your state.
If u r not satisifed with their answer, just keep going up the chain to the chief of police, mayor, etc. Eventually, believe it or not, u will get something done. Squeaky wheel always gets the grease.

Answer 11

Since she took across state lines it's a matter for the FBI. Read Frank Abagnale 's "Catch Me if You Can" and "The Art of the Steal" Bank employee's aren't trained well enough to recognize forgeries.