Mail Theft, Forgery and Misuse of a Stolen Bank Card

My question involves criminal law for the state of: California
I found out my ex was stealing my mail from my mailbox. She stole bank cards, checks, etc. She used the bank cards to attempt to get into my accounts and steal all of my money. She stole checks, forged my signature, and cashed them. I've reported all of this to the police and I have several police reports. I even found out she has a warrant out. The problem is, I'm told that most likely nothing will happen. Even though we have forged checks that she put her name on. The banks have the ATM locations where she attempted to break into my accounts. It would be an easy open and shut case. I'm confused why the police/prosecutors won't pursue it. Can someone please explain or tell me how to get the police to pursue the charges??

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Quoting lildee

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My question involves criminal law for the state of: California
I found out my ex was stealing my mail from my mailbox. She stole bank cards, checks, etc. She used the bank cards to attempt to get into my accounts and steal all of my money. She stole checks, forged my signature, and cashed them. I've reported all of this to the police and I have several police reports. I even found out she has a warrant out. The problem is, I'm told that most likely nothing will happen. Even though we have forged checks that she put her name on. The banks have the ATM locations where she attempted to break into my accounts. It would be an easy open and shut case. I'm confused why the police/prosecutors won't pursue it. Can someone please explain or tell me how to get the police to pursue the charges??

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You say she ATTEMPTED to break into your accounts. Does that mean she did NOT do it? If she did not take any money, proving the intent required for a larceny case can be near impossible.

Understand that property crimes are now low level offenses in CA and most are not prosecuted even when you have a good case. An attempted theft case is almost always a non-starter, though that can change with sufficient PROOF of intent.

What happened with the checks? You say she forged your signature ... was that a conclusion the police also reached? Where were they cashed, and, what was the highest value of the single highest check? What was the total of all the checks cashed?

Did you file an affidavit of forgery with the bank, and did they refund your money?

Keep in mind that there is nothing you can do that will compel the DA to pursue criminal charges. Nothing. In several CA counties, they will no longer prosecute misdemeanor property crimes. Prior to the passage of Prop 47, attempts to use debit or credit cards could be charged as felony burglary as could attempts to pass forged checks. Now, these are individual petty theft offenses (misdemeanors). Unfortunately, the state of CA has decided that property crimes are not worth the effort ... thank the voters and the state legislature.

Did you notify the bank? That's the first you do.

She got into one account and took money. The bank handled that. I was told since they bank gave me my money back, there's really nothing else that can be done with that.
I did file an affidavit for the forged check. I got my money back for the first check. I'm still in the process of dealing with the other check she stole and forged. One check was for $1500. This newest check was for $2200. Total of $3700 in stolen and forged checks. She actually signed her name on the back of the checks and forged my signature as if I was signing them over to her (I'm surprised that's even legal). The police concluded forgery since she actually put her name on them. She cashed the checks right in her own back account as well.
Wow this sucks. So basically she's going to keep getting away with this because it's a low level crime. She probably knows this and knows she can get away with it. Ugh!!

Well, with the amount totaling more than $950 for a single transaction, that is a felony for grand theft ... provided there's not some question as to whether or not you authorized the payment. If there is evidence, this should be one they will pursue. But, a lot depends on the nature of the evidence. If the police/DA have not yet done so, they will likely need to get a handwriting analysis of the checks to verify forgery. If they have not yet asked you for a writing exemplar, then they still have some ways to go.

Did the police say whether or not they were forwarding the matter to the DA? Keep in mind that these matters can take many months to proceed, and the statute of limitations on felony larceny is 3 years.

Ok, good to know. I'll talk to the police again today when I go report the latest $2200 forged check. I'll ask them about the handwriting analysis.
I now have the IRS on my butt regarding the taxes on these checks. They are now also investigating the identity theft and forgery. It'll all just really frustrating. Esp since, the criminals seem to get away with it all.
Thanks for your help.

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Quoting lildee

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Ok, good to know. I'll talk to the police again today when I go report the latest $2200 forged check. I'll ask them about the handwriting analysis.
I now have the IRS on my butt regarding the taxes on these checks. They are now also investigating the identity theft and forgery. It'll all just really frustrating. Esp since, the criminals seem to get away with it all.
Thanks for your help.

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How did the IRS get involved??? That seems ... odd. VERY odd. Why would they be concerned about a check you may have written to someone? Was this written as a paycheck of some sort? Are you sure the IRS is actually involved over the forged checks?

As for the investigation, handwriting analysis can be expensive. It may be that the agency will not opt to pursue that angle. But, that may also mean that they will not proceed very far with the investigation. Let us know what they say when you take to the investigating agency.

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Quoting cdwjava

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How did the IRS get involved??? That seems ... odd. VERY odd. Why would they be concerned about a check you may have written to someone? Was this written as a paycheck of some sort? Are you sure the IRS is actually involved over the forged checks?

As for the investigation, handwriting analysis can be expensive. It may be that the agency will not opt to pursue that angle. But, that may also mean that they will not proceed very far with the investigation. Let us know what they say when you take to the investigating agency.

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I also cannot see any reason at all why the IRS would care at all who he wrote checks to or why. If the IRS is really involved there is a whole lot more to this story than we are being told.

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Quoting llworking

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I also cannot see any reason at all why the IRS would care at all who he wrote checks to or why. If the IRS is really involved there is a whole lot more to this story than we are being told.

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I agree. Or, the mystery IRS agent/contact is a scam of some sort and just happened to come down about the same time as all of this.

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Quoting cdwjava

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I agree. Or, the mystery IRS agent/contact is a scam of some sort and just happened to come down about the same time as all of this.

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That is not outside the realm of possibility. It would be a bit unusual, but there have been some really intricate IRS scams going on lately. Unfortunately, I am still leaning more towards there being more to this story than the OP has shared.

It was a check I received from a company. Not a check I wrote.

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Quoting lildee

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It was a check I received from a company. Not a check I wrote.

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Still not sure why the IRS would give a whit unless there was something funny going on with the company that wrote the check.

I had a couple of checks coming in the mail, made out to me. She stole them from my mailbox, forged my signature, and signed them over to herself. The IRS is involved because they show I have "unclaimed income". I had to file an identity theft report with them because these are checks/money I never actually received.

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Quoting lildee

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The IRS is involved because they show I have "unclaimed income".

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Do you mean unreported income, based upon your failure to report income that came to you via the stolen checks?

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Quoting lildee

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It was a check I received from a company. Not a check I wrote.

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That doesn't explain how the IRS got involved. It just makes it even weirder that the IRS would be involved.

Yes, sorry, unreported income.
One was from the State of California because I bought an electric car. You get a $1500 rebate when you purchase an electric vehicle. The check was stolen from my mailbox. The other check was from Citibank for $2200. That check was also stolen from my mailbox. The IRS has it in their system that I received these forms of payment. I, however, did not receive these forms of payment because she intercepted the checks. So both of the issuing banks are investigating. I also had to send a copy of the forged checks to the IRS. All of that is being taken care of. My question had to do with what can the law do about this. It looks like the unfortunate answer is...probably nothing. Maybe between the banks, the US Postal Inspection Service, and the IRS all investigating, some type of action will be taken.

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Quoting lildee

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I had a couple of checks coming in the mail, made out to me. She stole them from my mailbox, forged my signature, and signed them over to herself. The IRS is involved because they show I have "unclaimed income". I had to file an identity theft report with them because these are checks/money I never actually received.

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Why would you file an identity theft report with the IRS in that instance? The IRS does not send out a CP-2000 letter claiming that you did not report certain income unless they received a 1099 for you that you did not include on your tax return. That means that you ignored one or more 1099s that you received when you did your taxes and that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she stole the money.

On top of that, it means that the alleged theft took place sometime in 2015 or 2016 because any CP-2000 letters coming out now would be addressing one of those years. How is it that you never received that much money and are just discovering it now?

When you received a "large" form of payment, you have to report it to the IRS as income. I never reported it because I never received it. The IRS, however, shows that I did. I had to send the IRS a copy of the police reports, copies of the forged checks, etc to show I was a victim of identity theft.

How LONG ago did this happen? The IRS does not routinely monitor local police reports, and until it came time for this employer to have reported the income and for you to have filed your taxes, it wouldn't be an issue ... VERY peculiar that they would be involved at all unless this happened some time ago.

I wouldn't count on much from the Postal Inspector or the bank. The local police might be able to make the case provided there is sufficient proof to do so. If they do, it could take many months before there is any real movement. And, with the SoL being three years, there is no great rush for them to act on a property crime offense. Speak to the investigator and ask what the status might be. They may have already forwarded it to the DA .. .they may be waiting to make contact with the suspect. Who knows?

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Quoting lildee

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When you received a "large" form of payment, you have to report it to the IRS as income. I never reported it because I never received it. The IRS, however, shows that I did. I had to send the IRS a copy of the police reports, copies of the forged checks, etc to show I was a victim of identity theft.

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Once again, what the IRS received was a copy of the 1099 that was issued to you covering the payment. Since you got the 1099, you knew darn well that the income had been reported under your name. What's more, who doesn't know what is owed to them and that it hasn't been received?

The theft occurred Nov/Dec 2016.
I clearly never received a 1099. If I had received a 1099, I would have known about the money. I bought a house and moved in Jan 2017. Maybe it got lost in the mail. Once I realized my mail was being stolen, I put a hold on delivery. Who knows why I never received a 1099 but I certainly asked.
The $1500 check didn't generate a 1099. That investigation was handled. The $2200 check is what generated the CP2000.
My question was what legally can be done when someone steals your mail and forges checks.

If you need the back story...My partner was living with me in my apartment. When I broke up with her, she refused to move out. She got violent so I went to stay with my brother and filed a restraining order. The restraining order eventually forced her to have to move out. During that time, however, she was taking my mail. She took bank cards, checks, and whatever else she could to try to steal money from me. I also was not aware that she responded to a class action lawsuit notice (Edery v Citibank). She either responded to a notice I received in the mail or she went on the website and submitted me for the class action lawsuit herself. I found out there's a class action website just for that (https://topclassactions.com/). Either way, I got approved and she stole the check when it came. The only way I found out about any of this is because the IRS sent me the CP2000 letter. The IRS told me where the check/money came from and the amount. They told me it came from Edery v Citibank. I googled it and contacted the law office involved. After a month of phone calls, emails, and lots of letters, they finally responded. They sent me the copy of the forged check with her name, signature, and the bank where she deposited the check. I just got off the phone with the law office to start the investigation. The IRS sent me the identity theft packet and they now have all of that information as well. All my taxes have been filed with no problems. Everything has been approved (I actually received my refund today).
The next step for me is to see if she'll ever get caught. She was on the run most of last year from Los Angeles to Oakland to Atlanta to Philly. I did find out she has a warrant. This is not the first time she's committed these types of crimes. I've been very frustrated this last year dealing with all of this. So hence the reason for my post to ask what else can be done to bring her to justice?!!

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Quoting lildee

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The theft occurred Nov/Dec 2016.
I clearly never received a 1099. If I had received a 1099, I would have known about the money. I bought a house and moved in Jan 2017. Maybe it got lost in the mail. Once I realized my mail was being stolen, I put a hold on delivery. Who knows why I never received a 1099 but I certainly asked.
The $1500 check didn't generate a 1099. That investigation was handled. The $2200 check is what generated the CP2000.
My question was what legally can be done when someone steals your mail and forges checks.

If you need the back story...My partner was living with me in my apartment. When I broke up with her, she refused to move out. She got violent so I went to stay with my brother and filed a restraining order. The restraining order eventually forced her to have to move out. During that time, however, she was taking my mail. She took bank cards, checks, and whatever else she could to try to steal money from me. I also was not aware that she responded to a class action lawsuit notice (Edery v Citibank). She either responded to a notice I received in the mail or she went on the website and submitted me for the class action lawsuit herself. I found out there's a class action website just for that (https://topclassactions.com/). Either way, I got approved and she stole the check when it came. The only way I found out about any of this is because the IRS sent me the CP2000 letter. The IRS told me where the check/money came from and the amount. They told me it came from Edery v Citibank. I googled it and contacted the law office involved. After a month of phone calls, emails, and lots of letters, they finally responded. They sent me the copy of the forged check with her name, signature, and the bank where she deposited the check. I just got off the phone with the law office to start the investigation. The IRS sent me the identity theft packet and they now have all of that information as well. All my taxes have been filed with no problems. Everything has been approved (I actually received my refund today).
The next step for me is to see if she'll ever get caught. She was on the run most of last year from Los Angeles to Oakland to Atlanta to Philly. I did find out she has a warrant. This is not the first time she's committed these types of crimes. I've been very frustrated this last year dealing with all of this. So hence the reason for my post to ask what else can be done to bring her to justice?!!

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It sounds like you have done everything that you can do.