I have a protective order against me by my wife and was forced out of my home without being able to reasonably gather all my things. So in my leaving the home as ordered, I left in my dresser chest a folder full of credit cards that I wasn't using anymore as I had paid them off or was paying down the balance. While I was not in the home, my wife accessed my cards and started to run up bills on them by signing my name to receipt transactions. Can she be charged for forgery and larceny?
Here are some of the crimes that, on these facts, she may have committed:
Credit card theft (Va. Code s. 18.2-192): ". . . takes, obtains or withholds a credit card or credit card number from the person, possession, custody or control of another without the cardholder's consent . . ." 192(1)(a).
Credit card fraud (Va. Code s. 18.2-195): "Uses for the purpose of obtaining money, goods, services or anything else of value a credit card or credit card number obtained or retained in violation of § 18.2-192 . . ." 195(1)(a).
Forgery (Va. Code s. 18.2-172): "If any person forge any writing, other than [public records, coin, or bank notes], to the prejudice of another's right, or utter, or attempt to employ as true, such forged writing, knowing it to be forged . . ."
Larceny by false pretenses (Va. Code 18.2-178): "If any person obtain, by any false pretense or token, from any person, with intent to defraud, money, a gift certificate or other property that may be the subject of larceny, he shall be deemed guilty of larceny thereof; or if he obtain, by any false pretense or token, with such intent, the signature of any person to a writing, the false making whereof would be forgery, he shall be guilty . . ."
Keep all the paperwork you have regarding this, and go to the police if you wish to charge her with a crime.
