Charged With Felony Theft Afer Retaining Tools Over a Nonpayment

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Kentucky

1) I worked for a Contractor as a Subcontractor, however the IRS would reclassify me as an employee.
2) While removing an item from home, minor paint rub damage occurred to exterior door.
3) Door was to be painted anyway so I made arrangements with customer to paint door free of charge.
4) Contractor found out and he chose to replace the entire door, when a paint job would have remedied the problem.
5) Contractor kept a considerable amount (1000s) of my wages without my consent.
6) I had a few tools of the contractor in my possession that I retained as indemnification against the loss.
7) Contractor took tools of mine from customer's job site without my consent and has not returned them.
8) In the last email I sent to him I offered a settlement amount of my wages for his stuff or that we could just keep what each other had and go our separate ways.
9) Contractor never responded so i assumed he chose option 2.
10) Contractor never demanded surrender of his tools regardless if there was a settlement or not.
11) Contractor filed criminal theft charges on me a month later.
12) Contractor did not state in police report that he kept my wages or that we had been in negotiations. The only thing he stated was that I quit and took tools.
13) By Kentucky law, contractor committed theft of services because he allowed me to work for 2 weeks knowing he was going to retain wages. Basically the law states that if he allowed me to work knowing that my services were only for profit, he is guilty of the exact same level of violation that I've been charged with.

I have no criminal record and this whole thing has me sick to my stomach. Obviously I need legal council and I am in the process of that. Just looking for some professional opinions to hopefully abate the anxiety that I'm going through.

What you should have done was to immediately sue him in small claims court for the money he withheld from you instead of keeping his tools. Since he kept tools of yours as well, you should be discussing that with your attorney.

Since you were a independent contractor you don’t have wages. You have money due per your contract.

Regardless, you do not have a right to retain somebody else’s property and hold it hostage in exchange for what you believe he owes you.

A prosecutor may see things your way and decide there was no intent to steal the property and drop the charges but only time will tell.

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13) By Kentucky law, contractor committed theft of services because he allowed me to work for 2 weeks knowing he was going to retain wages. Basically the law states that if he allowed me to work knowing that my services were only for profit, he is guilty of the exact same level of violation that I've been charged with.

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I’m guessing the police or prosecutor don’t agree with your take on the matter.

What kind of money are we talking about in the theft of the tools. Is it hundreds or thousands? And is this in a county court or municipal court? It must be really slow in this jurisdiction for the to have been filed. Looks like a civil dispute to me.

Well that's where the IRS reclassification would come in. I wasn't paid per job, I was paid a wage per hour. There was no written contract.

The money that I'm referring to wasn't even from the job that the paint got rubbed off the door, those hours worked were on a different job.

Going by the information on the affidavit, I doubt the police officer or prosecutor even knows about him keeping my wages. I haven't been given the opportunity to tell them yet. It literally says nothing other than I quit and took tools.

The tools are valued at approximately 600 dollars, while the tools he took are valued at about 130 dollars and the wages amount to 2050 dollars.

It's a county court.

I should also note that I have evidence to back up everything I'm stating through emails and texts.

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Quoting Unfetteredmight

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I haven't been given the opportunity to tell them yet.

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Good. Don't TELL anybody anything. You are being prosecuted for a crime. Exercise your right to remain silent and exercise your right to an attorney. Don't talk to anybody about this except your attorney.

Nothing else that you posted matters a bit until you successfully address the criminal charges.

Does this guy have any connections (political) to the county?

You are being charged with theft. The misclassification, the IRS, and anything to do with wages or contract payments have nothing to do with this.

Is this scheduled to go before the grand jury? Is there a probable cause hearing scheduled?

Understand that anyone can file an affidavit saying that someone stole from them. But you can't be charged unless a judge or a grand jury says that there is evidence that you did in fact commit the crime based on the facts.

So where is this in the process?

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Quoting budwad

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Does this guy have any connections (political) to the county?

You are being charged with theft. The misclassification, the IRS, and anything to do with wages or contract payments have nothing to do with this.

Is this scheduled to go before the grand jury? Is there a probable cause hearing scheduled?

Understand that anyone can file an affidavit saying that someone stole from them. But you can't be charged unless a judge or a grand jury says that there is evidence that you did in fact commit the crime based on the facts.

So where is this in the process?

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I've considered that possibility. He owns a home remodeling company so the opportunity for him to meet people in political positions does exist. He used to have a bunch of photos of him at various well to do parties on his FB, but they aren't on there anymore. I actually went back to his profile recently to see if I could find him posing with anyone of significance. It does seem odd that those photos are gone now, but it could be a coincidence.

The next hearing is the probable cause hearing I believe. I've been once already and I plead not guilty.

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Quoting Unfetteredmight

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The next hearing is the probable cause hearing I believe. I've been once already and I plead not guilty.

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The best advice is to hire an attorney to represent you. If you choose to go it alone, then just tell the judge what happened and why. He took your tools so you took his. Don't get into the wage or payment thing because it has nothing to do with the charges. He took your tools and you took his. The reality is that this is a contract dispute and should be treated as such.

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Quoting budwad

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The best advice is to hire an attorney to represent you. If you choose to go it alone, then just tell the judge what happened and why. He took your tools so you took his. Don't get into the wage or payment thing because it has nothing to do with the charges. He took your tools and you took his. The reality is that this is a contract dispute and should be treated as such.

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I doubt that I can successfully characterize it that way. He potentially has copies of the same evidence I have and they will show that he took my tools afterwards.

I'm not sure how the wages which rightfully belonged to me that he refused to pay, ergo my property that he stole, has no bearing on this. Are you saying that the totality of the circumstances will have no bearing on the case?

Don't take my reply the wrong way, I'm not trying to be argumentative. It's just that reality warping seems like a bad way to dole out justice and if that's how things play out in our justice system, that's very disconcerting.

I totally agree that this should have went to a civil court. That's why I think he chose this route, because he knew he would not prevail in that venue.

I do appreciate all of your help.