What would you do?

Question

I worked for a couple of doctors for a year. Instead of paying for my health insurance they agreed to pay towards my student loans. Their billing people and accountants were aware of this deal. I quit a year later because they were horrible to work for. Two weeks later I get a call from the local police that I'm being charged with theft. They are very influential doctors and managed to get me indicted! So, now I have been charged with forgery and theft. All based on my fringe benefit checks. The agreement was that I spend the money student loans but I never got the chance because bills, rent, etc. always ended up coming first. My attorney seems to think the case is winnable but I would have to prove where the money went and I can't! If we went to court the docs would have to lie under oath that they did not agree to the fringe benefits. They obviously will since they lied to police. Diversion has been offered but I must admit guilt and repay. Any suggestions?

The agreement WAS in writing but I had to leave all paperwork behind when quit the job. The docs are pressing the issue because I tried to sue for vacation pay they never gave me-NOT BECAUSE I DIDN'T SPEND IT ACCORDINGLY-AND THEY ARE VERY SPITEFUL B@!CHES.

Answer 1

take it to court...show your rent receipts and you can call your bill company's and request statements from them if you don't have them. medical receipts i am sure a pharmacy will have any prescriptions on file... if your lawyer says you have a case then you do..
Good luck... oh and get a check done on past employees to see if this has ever happened to any of them as well... cuz if it has your case just got even better.. also check on what other things these doctors have sent to courts and police in the past..

Answer 2

Wow thas a sticky mess.. i hope your attny is a sharp one.

First I would submit to a lie detector test, albeit inadmissable, it shows well and will lend the phychological effect of opening up the door to creating a reasonable doubt in the judges eyes. I dont know if you are having a jury trial, or not or where you are at in the process.. I am from michigan so when I talk i am speaking about the michigan judicial system.

First of all, do not admit to anything that you did not do. You know damn well that you didnt do it, so therefore all of the evidence against you no matter what has to be false or otherwise fabricated. You need to think about ANYTHING that you can remember documents or otherwise that can help corroborate your story. While your at it, request that the Dr.s both take a polygraph.

Also if you feel they are too politically connected in your current cicuit court, ask for a change of venue to a neighboring county if at all possible.

Who signs checks in their office? Do the sign them themselves? Or is it a "rubberstamp" if they sign them themselves, then make sure you have the checks reviewed by a handwriting specialist to prove that they are authentic signatures. In order to forge a check, one needs to access to the checks to begin with. Did you? If not, make a note as to why you werent able to get to them.. like where they were kept, or who kept them.

If you have any notes, emails, voicemails, etc from them regarding this, bring those to your attnys attention. Did anyone overhear the agreement?

Make sure that you show that you did not receive any health benefits while you were there... because working for a Dr. pretty much implies that you would get a good med insurance package. You not having one, and receiving the money to pay off your student loans corroborates HALF of your story.. who in their right mind (even in the judicial system) would beleive a worker in a medical office would not get medical insurance.

Best of luck.

Answer 3

Your situation is not good. It sounds like this agreement that they pay for your student loans in lieu of health insurance was a verbal agreement, and if that's the case it's your word against theirs. To make matters worse, even if you could get them to say that the money was intended for repayment of student loans, you have already said you didn't use the money for its intended purpose. That could be construed as fraud. Finally, you can't offer any evidence to show where the money went, and judges don't care about what you know -- they only care about what you can prove.

It may seem like a raw deal to you, but my advice is to admit guilt and repay. The odds are stacked against you, and if you lose you'll have a conviction for forgery and theft on your record, which will make it next to impossible for you to get a decent job anywhere. Go for the lesser of the two evils.

Answer 4

You're up a creek if you didn't get it in writing that they would give you money for your student loans instead of insurance.

It also sounds like you didn't use the money for what it was intended for. So you did de-fraud, in a manner of speaking.

You should be able to prove where the money went if you paid your rent, electricity and whatever as you'd have statements from them showing amount owed and it had better equal the amount of what you were given to put towards school loans.

You're going to have to take your lawyers advice and take your chances on what the court will do.

You could always bring a civil suit against the doctors for perjury and wrongful arrest.

Answer 5

Wow, I don't even know where to start on this one.

1. Don't perjure yourself.
2. Ultimately if they signed the checks you have nothing to worry about.

Again, if they signed the checks they can't prove forgery. If the charge is theft and NOT "theft by deception" then I think they would have a hard time proving that charge especially if they signed the checks.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Honestly, if they paid cash directly to you then it is your money to spend where you like. The agreement was to pay you cash in leiu of paying for health insurance. I would say it is irrelavent of where you spent the money as long as you claimed the income on your taxes. Unless you signed a contract stating that the money would be put towards student loans.

Answer 7

It's ur fault really...u should always get agreements in writing! Not to mention the agreement was that the money would go towards ur school loans & YOU did not use it for that.
Hey, I'm not saying they're right either. They should not be accusing you stealing things if you did not steal. But come on...common sense.
Well....common sense would be that you have a copy of it & take all of ur personal papers with you when u quit!!!

Answer 8

YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PAY FOR YOUR STUDENT LOANS AND YOU DIDN'T. NO MATTER HOW INFLUENTIAL THE DOCTORS ARE, THE DA WOULD NOT INDITE WITH OUT CAUSE. THE DA OBVIOUSLY THINKS HE HAS A CASE OR HE WOULD NOT WASTE HIS TIME. IF YOU DID WHAT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DO THIS WOULD NEVER HAD HAPPENED. IT'S YOUR OWN FAULT. LIVE AND LEARN


YOU SCREWED UP THE BENEFITS MONEY THEN YOU TRIED TO SUE THEM FOR MORE MONEY. YOU SOUND LIKE THE EMPLOYEE FROM HELL. SEEM TO ME LIKE YOUR THE ONE THAT WAS BEING SPITEFUL.

Answer 9

I think you did commit fraud because you didn't spend the money how you promised. You and the doctors are probably both guilty but they have lots more resources.

i recommend mediation or alternative dispute resolution. ask your attorney about it. and tell your attorney the truth about what happened to the money.

they are not allowed to pay you off the books like that (it avoids taxes for them) so they have to lie. If they tell the truth they are in big trouble. mediation is private so they don't have to admit it all in public.

Answer 10

The chances of you beating it are not that good and since you don't have proof of anything there really is not much you can do. Maybe try to work out a plea deal because if you go to trial you will slammed.