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Under California Penal Code 503, the crime of embezzlement is the fraudulent appropriation of money or property by someone who has been put in a position of trust or responsibility. This might be a trustee, an employee or an agent, for examples. Embezzlement is a white-collar offense and can refer to anything from misusing public funds to falsifying documents in order to transfer funds into another account. Embezzlement can involve millions of dollars or relatively small amounts.
You can be charged with, and convicted, of embezzlement even if you didn’t intend to keep the property in question and were only borrowing it temporarily.
In California, embezzlement is punished as a form of grand or petty theft. This depends on the type of property that was stolen and its value. For example, if the property is worth more than $950 or it is an automobile or a firearm, then the accused would be charged with grand theft, which is a ‘wobbler’ under California law. This means that it may be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the circumstances of the case and the defendant’s criminal history, if any. Misdemeanor grand theft embezzlement can lead to up to one year in county jail, while felony grand theft embezzlement can get you a jail sentence for up to three years.
With property worth less than $950, embezzlement is a form of petty theft, which is a misdemeanor, and is punishable by up to six months in county jail.
However, the most damaging aspect of embezzlement can be that it goes on your criminal record and it is extremely difficult to get a job when employers see an “embezzler” as untrustworthy.
Federal penalties for embezzlement are harsh. Misdemeanors can be fined up to $100,000 and felonies can be fined in excess of $250,000. Sentencing also includes several years in federal prison.
One strategy is to show that our client is not an embezzler and that he/she honestly and reasonably believed that he/she believed he/she had the right to the property or the permission to take it.
Sadly, many innocent people are wrongfully charged and even convicted of embezzlement. Sometimes someone else has done the embezzling but our client was still accused. For example, a colleague who also had access to the company’s computer, cashier, or safe.
Even if the evidence that you committed the embezzlement is compelling, or you have confessed to it, we are still often able to reach an informal resolution whereby you pay restitution to the victim and the charges are dropped.
