Theft Under and Over $5,000:
Examples of Theft Under includes shoplifting, bicycle theft, or stealing other “minor" items from a residence when lawfully allowed to be there (otherwise it would be burglary).
This type of theft is classified as theft of an item or items with a total monetary value under the amount of $5,000. Anything more than $5,000 is considered Theft Over $5000, in which case the charges will be significantly more serious and a person risks the possibility of jail.
“Anything"
This has been defined as wide enough as not being limited to anything that is tangible or material.
But the thing taken must be of such a nature that it can be subject or a propriety right and the property must be capable of being taken or converted in a manner that results in the deprivation of the victim.
“Fraudulently":
Theft must involve a deceit or an intention to deceive or in some cases mere secrecy and either actual injury or possible injury or an intent to expose some person either to actual injury or to a risk of possible injury by means of that deceit.
Included Offense:
Possession of property obtained by crime is an included offence to Theft.
First Offense vs. Repeat Offense
While courthouses have different laws regarding Theft Under, they all come close to the same guidelines.
A first offense is always going to be treated more lightly than someone who is a repeat offender, whether it is petty theft or not. A judge is more likely to give the maximum penalty to someone who didn’t learn his or her lesson the first time.
First Offense Options
Deferred judgment or diversion has become an option in many courthouses when it comes to Theft Under. If you have never been convicted of theft, or a similar crime, and have never participated in a diversion or deferred judgment program, you may be eligible. Eligibility is not automatic.
Breach of Trust
Unlike a person charged with Theft Under by taking an item at a store, the matter is far more serious where there is a Breach of Trust. A Breach of Trust is where a person violates a fiduciary duty owed to the victim. An example of a Breach of Trust is where an employee steals or defrauds an employer. The employee violated a trust position viz. the employer. Where fact is in play, the courts view the charge in a more serious manner.
Theft
322 (1) Every one commits theft who fraudulently and without colour of right takes, or fraudulently and without colour of right converts to his use or to the use of another person, anything, whether animate or inanimate, with intent
(a) to deprive, temporarily or absolutely, the owner of it, or a person who has a special property or interest in it, of the thing or of his property or interest in it;
(c) to part with it under a condition with respect to its return that the person who parts with it may be unable to perform; or
(d) to deal with it in such a manner that it cannot be restored in the condition in which it was at the time it was taken or converted.
Time when theft completed
(2) A person commits theft when, with intent to steal anything, he moves it or causes it to move or to be moved, or begins to cause it to become movable.
Secrecy
(3) A taking or conversion of anything may be fraudulent notwithstanding that it is effected without secrecy or attempt at concealment.
Purpose of taking
(4) For the purposes of this Act, the question whether anything that is converted is taken for the purpose of conversion, or whether it is, at the time it is converted, in the lawful possession of the person who converts it is not material.
Wild living creature
(5) For the purposes of this section, a person who has a wild living creature in captivity shall be deemed to have a special property or interest in it while it is in captivity and after it has escaped from captivity.
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