[melmel]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: TX

My former step-daughter stole two credit cards from her grandmother (my former mother-in-law). Between the two cards she racked up around $900 in charges. My mother-in-law contacted the police after she was notified about fraud on the 2nd card (only a couple of days after she found out about the first one). My step-daughter took the first card from my mother-in-law's purse and used it for a few days before the credit card company froze it for potential fraud / theft issues (my mother in law hadn't used that particular credit card for 2 years). When the first card was frozen, she took another card. She then went shopping at the mall with some friends.

My former step-daughter is already on probation for possession charges of a controlled substance on school property (was originally charged with a felony charge but it was dropped down when she went before the judge). She is on probabtion for 9 months. She actually went before the judge around the time the first card was frozen & she took the 2nd card.

My mother-in-law has started the processes with the different police departments that have jurisdiction over the cities where the charges were made. We have gotten the information regarding the specific charges from the credit card companies as back up for the police departments. We were told by one police department that it was a felony charge for each transaction that my step-daughter made with the stolen credit cards. My mother in law & I were trying to find out what the penalties are for this type of fraud / theft. I have been researching online but have been unable to find anything that actually tells me anything.

Any help anyone can give on this will be greatly appreciated.

Also, should my mother-in-law be consulting with an attorney?

Thanks,
Melanie

[M'sta Mikey]

Also, should my mother-in-law be consulting with an attorney?

Your daughter should be consulting a criminal defense attorney. Her grandmother did nothing wrong so the police and the district attorney are going to be handling this for her, free of charge.

Your daughter is facing probation violation, felony fraud, identy theft, and a host of other charges. Serious jail time and fines are definitely in her future.

Hire her a criminal defense attorney, like last week! Even if the grandmother doesn't wish to pursue charges, the state will. Your daughter's in serious trouble here.

[melmel]

I'm actually trying to help my mother in law out on this one.

Her grandaughter is my former step-daughter. My divorce was final today. Unfortunately nothing I did to try to help guide my step daughter helped. She is 17 and moved in with us just before her 16th birthday. Her mother was an unfortunate influence on her and nothing we did seemed to turn her around.

My mother in law has tried to help her since she was a baby but nothing she did seemed to help either. My mother in law is still my friend & will always be a part of my family. I am trying to help her out with this issue because she has serious heart issues and does not deal well with stressfull situations. I'm the one that had to call the police and have them go to the house because she was so shaken up she couldn't do it. We are trying to find out information regarding what will actually happen to my former step-daughter because of this. We are also trying to figure out how long it will take for things to start happening with the courts on this as well. My mother in law is dreading the thought of it taking something like 3-4 months before this goes before a judge.

Thanks