Theft By Check? How are they still FREE?

[juanjo322]

My name is Juan and I am a new forum member. Hello and happy to be here.



Well starting with my story. Back in January 2007 we owned a furniture store, by order only and at that time we were doing good, just getting by. We also were working doing mortgage loans. So by doing loans we got plenty of recognition because we would work hard to get loans closed fast. Around August there was this company and for privacy sake I'll refer to as Company "A", we did some loans for them. They were giving out incentives to homebuyers depending how much the house appraised for some were gettin as little as $2k and some were getting up to $25k, the catch was that they would do that in a form of credit to any store be it best buy, ashleys, lowes.. just anywhere for general merchandise. On that time they asked that if we would be able to do the same. So we said yes, we had a couple that well since the furniture was elegant and/or exotic prices were a little too much for some customers. They didn't want to spend their money that way so they would ask for a refund. And in the 2 or 3 customers that wanted their money well we did give it to them. Then after that we didn't hear from Company A again. On Febuary 2008 there was a lady that barged in our doors upset and angry full of emotion, and at the top of her lungs she was telling us that she wants her other money back that it was not fair that we took $20k from her.. we were all in shock. We had not ever seen this lady ever before, and here she is demanding $20k that she claims we kept in front of other customers. We sat down and talked to her and asked her name and who told her that we kept her money. It was at this point that she mentioned one of the sales agents for Company A, for his privacy i'll refer to him as "Olara", and we told her not to worry, we didn't have her money however we would call Company A and ask who they made out the check to.

So Company A replied that the check was made in the name of our Company not too long before the lady showed up and it was cashed. The problem was that it was not our company stamp, signature or account number. So we called Company A again and said that we have reason to believe that our Accountant was taking some money and if they could send us all the the copies of all the cancelled checks. To our surprise it was not just the 3-4 that we gave refunds too, but more like 15-18 checks that were made to our company!! At this point we called Company A and told them that we never did receive these checks and that what should we do? The gentleman in charge of accounts in Corporate Company A suggested that we take all the copies and go and speak to the General Manager here locally. We called the local GM and he asked us to go in. Upon arriving at the local office they asked to come in and they closed the door. Only thing is that there was the GM, Assistant GM (whom i'll call MDLR) and a Lady whom I'll refer to as GABGA, we didn't understand at the time why they were all there. So we Sat down and we said Mr. GM, here we have these checks that were cashed by someone else and we never even had posession of these checks.. what do we do? The GM rudely replied, " Yeah I know what this is about and I know where this is going, We'll call you if we need anything from you! " and that was it, he asked us to leave.

From there we went straight to the Police Department and the PO's there at the front desk greeted us and asked what we wanted. So we explained breifly what was going on and the PO asked us to speak to the Sargeant before we do a Police Report cause we would be opening a big can of worms. Upon the suggestion of the sergeant we didn't do the Police Report and we called Corporate Company A, and they said that they have started an investigation and that they would take care of it and for us to make the banks aware of what was going on. We contacted 3 local banks where the checks were cashed and that was it.

In late July we had "GAGA" come in the office and say that she needed us to sign a statement saying that we gave her authorization to cash those checks, and was very demanding cause she needed her money to take her kids out of town for a trip and that they had frozen her funds since way back to cover the banks loss. She left and immediately we made a police report of what happened and contacted the bank and let the VP know that we never authorized her to cash the check. We had to go in and sign a Forged Endorsement form and a statement that we didn't authorize cashing of the check. Two Weeks afterwards the bank calls us up to go in. So we did, and the VP gave us a check in the amount of $20k for the Forged Endorsement. At that point we called the Accounts Controller in Coporate Company A and asked if we send him this check. His response was if the check is made out to your company that check is yours, and that he thanked us for helping them out in letting them know what was happening.

Three months Later there was an investigator that came to us and said that he needed a check or cash in the amount of $20k because even though GAGA had cashed the check she did the right thing because she gave the right owner their money. Confusing part is that the money was given to the realtor that sold the house because according to her, it was her husband that purchased that house and it was their incentive. One week afterwards the investigator said that he picked up a voluntary statement from the realtor that says that GAGA got the check signed it, cashed it and brought the funds straight to her so that she can give them to her husband, cause it was his incentive for purchasing that house.

Moments after the statement was picked up the realtor called us to let us know that the investigator was there and that she just wrote that the funds were given to her by OLARA and that she shouldn't get punished for that and that as soon as the investigation is over that she should be compensated for covering up for us. Whatever that may have meant.

Warrant for my wife was issued right before Thanksgiving, as we passed our holiday in fear that she was going to be arrested on the holiday or over the weekend. We have a family of 5 kids and i'll be honest, i don't think anybody want's to be arrested in front of their kids. Monday came along and we made arrangements for her bond and I took her to the station so that she can turn herself in.

We posted bond that same evening, and she was telling me that that the booking center the Officer had to call the investigator because his report did not even say what she was being held for, what the charges were. The officer showed the statement that the realtor made, the one that "GAGA" made and also the police report where the bank is pressing charges on "GAGA" for the theft of check. The booking officer kept asking my wife why is she the one going to jail if her name is not even on the report. There is a lot of things that are not adding up. I went to City Records to see if that property was under the realtors husbands name and it was completely under someone elses name. We have gone and also talked to internal affairs at the station but our attorney says that it just gives them a heads up to clean up their mess and that in many years he has been an atty that he has only heard about them doing something about 3 times.

Later through our investigation we have found that the Company A's Local GM, GAGA, and that Asst GM are all related somehow and they were all covering up eachother and that's the reason they didn't want to give us the time of day when we were asked to go in. I don't know what do to about this .. what can i do?

To this day nothing has been done about Olara who cashed over 160k in checks (that we have proof for there might be more), GAGA for 20k, or the realtor or the realtor for issuing false statement. :confused:


THank you and please help.



*Note all the names have been changed to protect identities, any similarities or accuracy is strictly coincidental.

[lax854]

the only people who can answer your question is your local police dept and more specifically the detective assigned to your case. I will tell you that sometimes the wheels of justice take alil while to start moving and although you may want quick and swift justice, there may be forces that are acting that you may not realize. Perhaps evidence is still being collected to ensure a guilty verdict etc. However, the fine gentlemen and ladies on here can only try and begin to answer your questions, you best bet is to contact your local police agency and get an update on the status of your case.

[juanjo322]

the only people who can answer your question is your local police dept and more specifically the detective assigned to your case. I will tell you that sometimes the wheels of justice take alil while to start moving and although you may want quick and swift justice, there may be forces that are acting that you may not realize. Perhaps evidence is still being collected to ensure a guilty verdict etc. However, the fine gentlemen and ladies on here can only try and begin to answer your questions, you best bet is to contact your local police agency and get an update on the status of your case.

LAX854,

Thanks for your response, since we made the police report right after GAGA came in through our doors to ask for a the letter that we did authorize her to cash the check.. we haven't even gotten a single phone call and it's been at least a couple of months since the report, our numbers haven't changed and we have the habit of giving out our business card so that they can reach us no matter what. But nothing, here where i live I have learned that it's who you know, that being said, GAGA, keeps bragging that she has a lot of pull cause she know's a lot of people so that there is no way she can go to jail. As of today.. she is right.. she hasn't gone. This issue has caused us work, lots of it cause just like in the Station gossip travels fast, well it's no different that in the mortgage industry, we used to have plenty of loans and since the arrest we have had a couple of people pull their loans out because they don't want to get ripped off. This really saddens me you know?


-Juan

[lax854]

LAX854,

Thanks for your response, since we made the police report right after GAGA came in through our doors to ask for a the letter that we did authorize her to cash the check.. we haven't even gotten a single phone call and it's been at least a couple of months since the report, our numbers haven't changed and we have the habit of giving out our business card so that they can reach us no matter what. But nothing, here where i live I have learned that it's who you know, that being said, GAGA, keeps bragging that she has a lot of pull cause she know's a lot of people so that there is no way she can go to jail. As of today.. she is right.. she hasn't gone. This issue has caused us work, lots of it cause just like in the Station gossip travels fast, well it's no different that in the mortgage industry, we used to have plenty of loans and since the arrest we have had a couple of people pull their loans out because they don't want to get ripped off. This really saddens me you know?


-Juan

well juan what it comes down to is we are just officers, we know the laws for our counties/ cities/ states whatever it may be. But what we dont know is why things happen the way they do. IF you have not received a call, giving a courtesy call to your local precinct will certainly give you more insight then we can in the case and what is being done.

[juanjo322]

well juan what it comes down to is we are just officers, we know the laws for our counties/ cities/ states whatever it may be. But what we dont know is why things happen the way they do. IF you have not received a call, giving a courtesy call to your local precinct will certainly give you more insight then we can in the case and what is being done.

You are right, I will be making the call, hopefuly something can be done

-Juan

[Nole795]

Your going to be hard pressed getting any advice from this forum as you and your wife are targets of a criminal investigation. Your best bet is to hire an attorney and a forensic accountant to go over your business records/transactions.

If you are guilty, then forget hiring the forensic accountant, you will only be paying for your own convicition.

Personally, I have other questions I would love to ask, but because this is a pending case, I will hold my tongue.

[scott715us]

Sounds like the media needs to get a little info on this case, as well as GAGA and the crooks at Company A.

[Joeyd6]

Get an attorney ASAP.

[TX-LEO]

#1 I'm not reading all of that post.

As was said, hire a lawyer. We are not here to give you legal advice. From skimming your post, you have a complicated situation that we can't comment on and giving you advice would be inappropriate, in my opinion anyways.

[juanjo322]

Your going to be hard pressed getting any advice from this forum as you and your wife are targets of a criminal investigation. Your best bet is to hire an attorney and a forensic accountant to go over your business records/transactions.

If you are guilty, then forget hiring the forensic accountant, you will only be paying for your own convicition.

Personally, I have other questions I would love to ask, but because this is a pending case, I will hold my tongue.

I am 100% sure that we are not guilty, we didn't authorize or cosign or anything we didn't even know that these checks existed. I probably will try and look for Foresensic accountant.. guess this will be our only bet, that and the atty


Thank you,

Juan

[juanjo322]

Sounds like the media needs to get a little info on this case, as well as GAGA and the crooks at Company A.

I feel that this is also a good idea, cause with all this i am sure that there were plenty of people that don't know that this is happening. Whats worse they are a big builder here were i live..

[juanjo322]

#1 I'm not reading all of that post.

As was said, hire a lawyer. We are not here to give you legal advice. From skimming your post, you have a complicated situation that we can't comment on and giving you advice would be inappropriate, in my opinion anyways.

Thank you for your honesty. I know that I will not get legal advise. just some personal recommendation or maybe somebody here has seen a similar situation.

[juanjo322]

Get an attorney ASAP.

We have an atty, my brother in law was in law enforcement for a while, he retired and we explained everything to him and he said that clearly the 4 amendment was violated, cause there is not a clear reason why my wife was arrested. The report was incomplete, faulty information etc. I feel this guy knows "GAGA" on a personal level..

he also suggested to sue the city..

I'll be the 1st to tell you, we work hard for everything we don't want to get rich we just want justice. I know he is covering up after all this is said and done with we want a Public apology for his incompetence.

[txinvestigator1]

Can somone post a "Readers Digest" condensed Version?

[juanjo322]

Can somone post a "Readers Digest" condensed Version?

Condensed?:confused: