LARCENY, SHOPLIFTING, EMBEZZLEMENT & OTHER THEFT

Please note that Attorney Varszegi is currently not accepting any new cases.

Shoplifting is defined by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 266, Section 30A, which makes it illegal to intentionally take possession of, carry away, or cause to be carried away merchandise, or conceal merchandise on one's person with the intent of carrying it away. It also defines certain other practices as shoplifting, including label switching, wrong-price marking, and transferring merchandise to a wrongly-priced container before checkout. Penalties for shoplifting items worth less than $100 range from a fine of $250 for a first offense, to a fine of $500 for a second offense, to two years in jail for a third offense. Penalties for shoplifting items worth more $100 or more range up to 2 1/2 years in jail and a $1,000 fine. (Since shoplifting is a form of theft, an accused may also be charged with larceny, which can carry an even stiffer penalty as discussed below.)

Because the first offense for shoplifting often involves a fine with no jail time involved, many accused people simply want to put an embarrassing event behind them and pay the fine, even when they have a good chance of beating the charges. This can be a serious mistake, since the offense will go on one's record (CORI) and may create many problems in the future, for instance with employment (especially for jobs in the finanncial sector), housing, and immigration.

A show cause hearing, also called a clerk magistrate's hearing, is often the first stage of a shoplifting or other theft case, when an accused person is not arrested and arraigned but rather receives a summons in the mail. The intent of a show cause hearing is to determine whether there is reasonable cause to believe that a crime was committed and that the case is important enough for prosecution. This can be a critical chance to get the case dismissed, in essence before it's even brought-- nothing goes on one's record at all. Especially for a first offender, where prosecution will cause severe life difficulties, it may be possible to convince the magistrate that justice would not be served by prosecution. In a shoplifting or other misdemeanor case, even if an arrest and arraignment has occurred, it may be possible to get the case remanded to a show cause hearing, for an extra chance at dismissal.

Larceny is the most commonly charged theft crime in Massachusetts, and is generally defined by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 266, Section 30, which makes it a crime to steal property of another; to obtain another's property by a false pretense; or to "convert" property with the intent to steal it. To "steal" means to wrongfully take property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of it. If the allegedly stolen property's value exceeds $250, or it is a firearm, the crime charged is a felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Larceny of non-firearm property worth less than $250 is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 1 year in a house of corrections. Defenses may be successfully raised on each element of the offense; for instance, the prosecution must prove that the accused intended to steal. However, an intent to pay back the alleged victim later, or restore the property, is not a defense.

Embezzlement, sometimes called larceny by embezzlement, is a special form of larceny, where at some point the accused has rightful possession of the allegedly stolen property. The prosecution must prove that 1) while in a position of trust, the accused was entrusted with possession of personal property belonging to another; 2) that the accused took or "converted" that property to his or her own use, without consent; and 3) that the accused did so with the intent to permanently deprive the rightful owner of their property. Successful defenses to an embezzlement charge may be raised in a number of ways, for example by disproving that the property was actually taken or owned by another, proving that consent was given, or raising a reasonable doubt as to whether the necessary intent existed to permanently deprive the actual owner of their property. A case may be dismissed if restitution has occurred, and a believable argument is made that the accused simply made a mistake.

Evidence is the keystone of a successful defense. When you are charged with a crime such as malicious destruction of property, it is crucial to discover and preserve key evidence before it is lost forever. For example, eyewitness accounts, police officers' logs or "turret tapes", or security camera videotapes of the scene of the alleged crime, may all conflict with official police reports in ways that raise reasonable doubt or prove that you could not possibly have committed the crime. Attorney Varszegi acts promptly to discover and preserve key evidence, to give a better chance at winning a theft case or getting it dismissed outright. Where necessary, Attorney Varszegi will hire investigators on your behalf, and demand that the police be ordered to preserve all evidence they've gathered, not just police reports.

Please note that Attorney Varszegi is currently not accepting any new cases.