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What is a "theft - scheme : 1k to under 10k"? And who determines whether it were a "scheme" or not?
Anonymous4 views1 answers
I stole from money from my employer who I only worked for a month. I know for a fact I didn't steal over 1000 dollars (remember I only worked there a month) if anything it was around 300ish dollars. Am I missing something about this charge? What determines if it were a scheme? I just took money out of the register and pocketed it - there was no master plan to run the money dry or anything like that.
OK, you need to stop posting such specific facts and stating "I stole" or the like on a public forum such as this, which is accessible to law enforcement. These statements can be used to prove you guilty. A theft scheme is a series of thefts perpetrated by someone as part of a single plan, in other words, you decided upon a plan to take a sum of money over a period of time, with the idea that it would go unnoticed if you only took a little at a time. Rather than treat each individual theft as a separate misdemeanor, a "theft scheme" theory allows the State to add all the little thefts up in order to charge you with a felony. They make the determination that it is a "scheme" as opposed to a series of unconnected minor thefts based upon the circumstances, and it usually involves arguing to a judge or jury to draw a reasonable inference that there was an advance plan in your mind when you started out. Just because they charge you in this way, does not mean they can prove it, or that they would not offer you a misdemeanor plea to resolve the charges. They also may not be able to prove that all the money that the store claims disappeared from the register happened while you were operating the register. It could be that other employees who used the register also took money, but they only suspect you, and added those missing funds to your charges. If the facts show only that certain registers came up short at the end of the day, and more than one employee ran those registers that day without the cash receipts being confirmed between changing register operators, then they would have a hard time proving which employee took the cash. That's why you do not defend a charge of theft by admitting to only taking a smaller amount--that will only get you convicted when perhaps the State's evidence could not eliminate other suspects for the theft. Hire a good criminal defense lawyer and exercise your Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
