Theft Crimes
Criminal Defense
Theft Crimes in Southern California
Serving Banning, Blythe, San Bernardino, Palm Springs, San Diego, El Centro, Indio, Riverside, Rancho Cucamonga and surrounding areas.
A theft charge creates the possibility of serious legal penalties and requires dealing with the complex court system. The anxiety caused by potentially having to pay costly fines or serve a jail sentence and bear social judgment from being labeled a thief can feel crushing. What’s more, a theft conviction will create a permanent criminal record that will hamper one’s career and social life. The best strategy for avoiding these painful consequences is preparing a strong legal defense by hiring a skilled attorney to guide you through the court. The Southwest Legal team of top-rated Riverside County criminal defense attorneys have decades of experience defending those who have been accused of theft. If you have been charged with theft, call Southwest Legal today for a free consultation and begin the process of beating your case!
California Theft Statutes
The prosecution must prove four elements beyond a reasonable doubt to secure a theft conviction:
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1Possession of someone else’s property
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2The property owner did not consent to that possession
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3The defendant intended to permanently deny the owner of their property
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4The defendant moved the property in order to possess it
Definition Of Possession
The prosecution must prove the defendant had someone else’s property in their possession. The legal definition of possession requires having control over the property. Some obvious examples of possession include grabbing property or placing property into one’s personal items such as a backpack or purse. However, someone can also possess property without ever physically touching it. For instance, a limo driver notices that his last client forgot her purse in the backseat of the limo. Even if the limo driver never physically touched the purse, the fact he knows it is in his limo is enough to show he had possession of the purse. The key factor in determining possession is control; if someone has control over a piece of property then they have possession of it.
There are two types of possession: “actual” and “constructive.”
Actual Possession
Constructive Possession
Definition Of Consent
The prosecution must also prove the defendant possessed the property without the owner’s consent. To have consent means to have permission to possess the property. Consent can be actual or implied. Actual consent exists when the property owner explicitly gives permission for someone to possess their property. For example, if a man tells a neighbor he can borrow the man’s lawnmower on the weekends he has provided actual consent for the neighbor to possess the lawnmower on the weekends. Implied consent exists when consent is expressed through behavior rather than explicit communication.
For example, a man is shooting basketball by himself in a park when several people the man has never met before join him on the basketball. The man passes his basketball to one of the other people and they begin playing together. The man provided implied consent for the others to possess his basketball by passing it to them even though he never said “I give you permission to possess my basketball.” Anyone who possesses someone else’s property without their actual or implied consent may be guilty of theft if the other elements are also satisfied.
Definition Of Intent To Permanently Deprive
The prosecution must prove the defendant intended to permanently deprive the property owner of their property. A defendant must have intended to permanently deprive the owner of their property to be guilty of theft; any other intention cannot support a conviction. If a defendant takes someone else’s property by mistake or with the intent to return it there is no theft. Mistakes are common examples where someone takes another person’s property without intending to steal it.
For example,
Definition Of Moving The Property
Petty Theft Versus Grand Theft
Different Types Of Theft
As the name implies, theft by trick is committing a theft using trickery. There are five elements the prosecution must prove to convict a defendant of theft by trick:
- The defendant had knowledge the property belonged to someone else
- The defendant used fraud or deceit to gain possession of the property
- The defendant had the intent to permanently deprive the owner of their property
- The defendant had the property in their possession
- The defendant did not have the owner’s consent to take their property
For example, a conman approaches someone on the street and asks to use their cellphone to make an emergency call. The person believes the story and hands their phone to the conman who immediately puts it in his pocket and runs off. Theft by trick is distinguishable from larceny because it requires using deceit to gain possession of the property. If the conman grabbed the phone out of the person’s hand it would have been a robbery but because the conman used a fake story to get the person to hand over the phone it was a theft by trick.
Theft by false pretenses is defined by California Penal Code 532 as gaining possession of someone else’s property through false representations of present or past facts. A person commits theft by false pretenses when they misrepresent present or past facts to gain possession of someone else’s property. For example, a surveyor for a mining company discovers a large deposit of a valuable mineral beneath a plot of land owned by an elderly man. A representative from the mineral company contacts the old man and tells him the mineral company wants to buy his land to build an office building on it. The old man is reluctant to sell but after the mineral company representative tells him “you won’t get another offer as generous as ours because this land is worthless” he decides to sell. The mineral company has committed theft by false pretenses because they knowingly misrepresented the value of the land in order to get the old man to sell it. Theft by false pretenses requires the victim to rely on the false statement; if the old man was already intending to sell the land to the mineral company before the representative made the false statement regarding the land’s value then there would be no theft by false pretenses. The property owner must have relied on the false statement in making their decision in order to convict a defendant of theft by false pretenses.
Legal Defenses Against Theft
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1The defendant possessed the property with the owner’s consent
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2The defendant did not intend to permanently deprive the owner of the property
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3The defendant had a right to possess the property
Owner’s Consent
The Defendant Did Not Intend To Permanently Deprive The Owner
The Defendant Had A Right To The Property
Theft Penalties
Theft of items valued under $950 is charged as misdemeanor petty theft and is punishable by up to 6 months in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000.
Theft of items valued at over $950 is charged as grand theft. Grand theft is a “wobbler” crime which means it can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the specific facts of the case. If charged as a misdemeanor, grand theft is punishable by up to 1 year in jail. If charged as a felony, grand theft is punishable by up to 3 years in jail.
There are multiple sentencing enhancements for grand theft as well:
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1A current or former spouse,
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2A person with whom the accused has had a child
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3A live-in romantic partner (i.e. a “cohabitant”),
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4A current or former registered domestic partner,