False Pretenses, like Forgery, Can Land You in Legal Troubles
Video Transcribed: This is Wagoner lawyer Stuart Ericson. We’re talking about property crimes. We talked about embezzlement last time. There’s another offense called obtaining property by false pretenses.
This is another crime against the ownership of property, and of course, it’s related to larceny, but it’s more like stealth or taking and embezzlement, which is usually an employee taking from an employer. But this one’s different. This is a crime about obtaining property through some sort of trick or fraud, almost like a forgery or some kind of scheme where you are tricking or scheming against somebody by saying something that’s not true in order to obtain property or money. And so this is obtaining money by illegal means where of course, like a bank teller who siphons off some cash that’s being deposited, that teller’s legally supposed to take that money, but they’re converting it. This one, you’re getting it by illegal means by some sort of scheme or trick.
This is another offense, depending upon the dollar amount can be either a misdemeanor or a felony. Less than a thousand dollars is a misdemeanor. More than a thousand dollars is a felony. And so again, the punishment ranges are different. For the misdemeanor, of course, it’s up to one year in the county jail because it’s a misdemeanor. And felony is also like embezzlement, depending upon the dollar amount obtained, it’s up to two years in the Department of Corrections, five or eight years in the Department of Corrections if convicted if that’s sentenced.
So any questions about obtaining money or merchandise or goods or services by false pretenses, reach out to me, a criminal defense attorney in Oklahoma, at stuartericson@wagonerlawyer.com.
