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Victim of Fraud
My question involves criminal law for the state of: CA
I bought a gift card from someone for $500. That person made copy of the card and used it after he sold it to me.
Police and many detectives and my friend set up a trap and caught him on the act with all evidences including receipts he spend from my card after he sold to me, videos showed he sold the card to me then used the copy one to pay at self check out. Photocopy of the card that he was about to sell.
After police got all info from him, they let him go. I received a police report with all evidences against him but it said: 'Case closed'. 'Forward to DA for review'.
My questions:
1/Why the police did not arrest him since they got adequate evidences?.
2/How long does it take for DA to review and prosecute?.
3/Is it possible that DA decides not to prosecute him?
4/What can I do to follow up with the case?
5/How can I get my $ back?
Thanks a lot for your advices.
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Re: Victim of Fraud
1. If they know who he is and where he's likely to be, there's no real point in "arresting" someone.
2. Depending on the charge they've got from a year to many to comence prosecution.
3. The DA will determine if he has sufficient evidence and whether the State's interests are served by prosecuting.
4. See if there is a victims advocate or similar in your jurisdiction.
5. Sue the guy.
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Re: Victim of Fraud
If the prosecutor authorizes charges, the person will either get a summons or a warrant will be issued for his arrest. The prosecutor's office works on its own schedule - if there's nothing complicated about a case I would expect it to be reviewed at a weekly meeting. It is always possible that a prosecutor will decide that a case cannot be proved, or that the resources involved in a particular prosecution exceed what can be reasonably allocated, although nothing in your description suggests that this is a complex case.
If the person is prosecuted, you can request restitution.
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Re: Victim of Fraud
You can sue him in Civil Court.
Downside....even if you win (likely)....collecting. There is no one who will go try to force the guy to pay.
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Re: Victim of Fraud
Thank you all. Your posts are very useful.
I have another question:
In the report, the police put in the wrong timestamp of the receipts they found from the suspects when he purchased items from my card. Of course when the police reviewed the store video, they reviewed at different time and concluded: ‘The suspect did not complete the purchase at 1500 hours'. (If the transaction was not completed, how come the police was able to retrieve the receipt from the suspect?). I am sure the police was wrong because the store manager showed me different time and I know, it must be between my transactions.
Is it possible to ask for police to review and updated the report even the status on the report is "CLOSED'?
What conditions lead the police decide to arrest or not? I respect the police and others and don’t want to question about racism, but I see many people got arrested at Wal-Mart or Home Depot with lesser value. In my case, the suspects are white and they are on probation on another ID theft charge. The follow up portion of the report indicates the police was told when they checked on the adress that give by the suspects and was told 'They don't live at this address and nobody see them for several weeks'.
Thanks.