Newport Beach, Orange County - A Huntington Beach woman is under arrest after allegedly forging checks from her Newport Beach employer.
Police say the woman, who was a manager at a law firm, forged checks and changed the face-value of the checks.
Investigators say the suspect allegedly embezzled over $15,000 in forged checks.
Embezzlement used to be a crime in and of itself, but, as Newport Beach criminal attorney Michael L. Guisti explains, embezzlement is now covered under California's theft laws.
Theft crimes and forgery may not be this suspects only problem, because, says Guisti, depending on what investigators find she could face possible federal bank fraud charges.
People don't think of forgery as being a serious crime, and in fact a lot people think of it as nothing to worry about, but if convicted of forgery you could go to prison, according to Guisti.
The suspect will face grand theft charges for embezzlement, according to Guisti.
The big thing here, explains Guisti, is if the district attorney will charge the suspect on each separate count the suspect allegedly forged the checks, or make it into one charge for grand theft and one charge for embezzlement.
As for the federal charge, Guisti explains, under bank fraud it's a federal crime to cash stolen checks, and if convicted could result in federal prison time.
Now for a case to go to federal court it typically has to be in the best interest of the feds to prosecute the case, which is to say the feds want a to try a case they think they'll likely get a conviction out of, according to Guisti.
Embezzlement and forgery are taken quite seriously, and if you're being accused of such crimes you must contact our Orange County white-collar crimes attorney experts right now at the Law Offices of Michael L. Guisti at 888-478-8999.
We have over a decade of successfully winning cases for our corporate clients in Irvine, Newport Beach, Fullerton and Los Angeles in the courts of Southern California, which is why you must give us a call.
Understand, from the moment you first meet us our goal is to win your case, and we never settle for nothing less.
