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.

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Quoting Unfetteredmight

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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.

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I disagree with bud. I would be totally honest. You caused some damage that you were willing to fix. Instead, he replaced the door costing thousands of dollars and deducted it from your pay. You disagreed with him and kept some of his tools, he kept some of your tools as well.

With any luck the judge will realize that the whole thing is a civil matter and will dismiss it as such.

Being charged with theft has absolutely nothing to do with damage to a door or any wage dispute. The charge is theft. A judge is not interested in intrinsic facts that lead up to the crime.

Nothing I suggested is dishonest. It is only facts.

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Quoting Unfetteredmight

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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.

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. The irs classification won’t do you any good with this. It isn’t an overnight matter.

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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.[

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so you had a contractual dispute and you essentially stole his tools to use as a bargaining chip.

Dont ever do that again.

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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.

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it may make no difference. Regardless of anything else, retaining his tools without his permission is theft. There is an arguable point in what you did but there is no guarantee a prosecutor will see it that way.

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

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one thing about emails; it’s difficult to prove the person you sent them to received them or read them. If he hasn’t recieved the emails your defense is dead in the water.

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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?

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if that is a crime then every person that doesn’t pay a debt is a criminal for the same reason. The money part is a simple contractual issue. He did not steal your money. He has failed to pay per your contract demands. A huge difference

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Quoting jk

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if that is a crime then every person that doesn’t pay a debt is a criminal for the same reason. The money part is a simple contractual issue. He did not steal your money. He has failed to pay per your contract demands. A huge difference

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Interesting that is your position when the state feels differently.

514.060 Theft of services.
(1) A person is guilty of theft of services when:
(a) The person intentionally obtains services by deception or threat or by false
token or other means to avoid payment for the services which he knows are
available only for compensation;

(4) Theft of services is a Class A misdemeanor unless the value of the service is:
(a) Five hundred dollars ($500) or more but less than ten thousand dollars
($10,000), in which case it is a Class D felony;

If he had told me that he was going to back charge me and I agreed to it and later changed my mind, that's a contractual dispute. But when he allowed me to work for 2 weeks, knowing that he wasn't going to pay me, that is a crime. A crime of identical monetary thresholds with the same level of criminality as mine.

Will that absolve me in court? Maybe not. But he and I can go down the same road.

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Quoting Unfetteredmight

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Interesting that is your position when the state feels differently.

514.060 Theft of services.
(1) A person is guilty of theft of services when:
(a) The person intentionally obtains services by deception or threat or by false
token or other means to avoid payment for the services which he knows are
available only for compensation;

(4) Theft of services is a Class A misdemeanor unless the value of the service is:
(a) Five hundred dollars ($500) or more but less than ten thousand dollars
($10,000), in which case it is a Class D felony;

If he had told me that he was going to back charge me and I agreed to it and later changed my mind, that's a contractual dispute. But when he allowed me to work for 2 weeks, knowing that he wasn't going to pay me, that is a crime. A crime of identical monetary thresholds with the same level of criminality as mine.

Will that absolve me in court? Maybe not. But he and I can go down the same road.

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Of course you’re arguing he had no intention of paying you. His argument is he has paid you but withheld what you owed to him. That is nowhere close to what the statute requires for theft of services. Your spin that you had to agree is incorrect. In fact, he may even have a legal right to offset the debt you owed him for what he owed you.


Anyway, it isn’t going to be prosecuted.

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Quoting jk

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Of course you’re arguing he had no intention of paying you. His argument is he has paid you but withheld what you owed to him. That is nowhere close to what the statute requires for theft of services. Your spin that you had to agree is incorrect. In fact, he may even have a legal right to offset the debt you owed him for what he owed you.


Anyway, it isn’t going to be prosecuted.

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What spin? Are you suggesting he didn't deceive me?

Suppose the electric company has a piece of equipment that becomes faulty and it over-voltages my home and destroys valuable electronic equipment. Even though I have a claim against the electric company, I don't get to decide to deduct it from my electric bills until I'm paid in full.

Electric Company = Me
Damaged Equipment = Damaged Door
Provided Service = Provided Service
Can't deduct from bill = Can deduct from bill

Do you see the flaw in your argument? Are you suggesting I don't have equal protection under the law?

He should have paid me for my services, submitted a bill for damages and if there was a dispute we could have taken it to arbitration or a judge and the judge could have decided what was right. He may very well have a legal right to offset, but there is also something call the Economic Loss Doctrine in as the customer was only entitled to compensation for the loss of value of the door. Which for a paint rub? That's not a lot, certainly not the entire replacement value.

You don't know the devastation he wrought on my family because he wanted to give the customer a blank check with my name on it.

I had spoken to one attorney who didn't think I could afford his services, but who was kind enough to point out the aforementioned KRS and told me to go press charges. Though I had already came across it in my research and thought the same thing, having the confirmation from an elderly experienced attorney was nice. He also stated that this should be a case even a lesser attorney would be able to beat.

However I think I will call him back and ask exactly what his fee would be. I know I can pull off a couple continuances, which should give me enough time to come up with his fee...hopefully.

I’m not sure how he decieved you. You worked. You earned money. He claims you owed him money so he retained the money you earned to offset what (he claims) you owed him. Nothing deceptive about that.

No I don’t see a flaw in my logic. In fact he may have had a legal right to deduct your debt to him from the money he owed to you. I don’t have all the info to make that call but it could be a very real possibility.

If he withheld more than you belived he had a right to, you could sue him

none if that rises to the level of a criminal act of theft of services.


Theft of services is causing a person to perform said services with no intent, at the onset of the request of the services, to pay them. He did pay you. It’s just that he withheld the pay as an offset or your debt to him.

To your example with the power company;
you could surely attempt to withhold payment as an offset. It wouldn’t make it theft of services. The big difference is the power company can simply turn off your power if you don’t pay the bill. That makes the example not anywhere comparable


It isn’t your choice to press charges. You can report what you believe to be a crime. The prosecutor will decide whether he believes it is a crime and whether to press charges or not. If you really believe it is a crime why haven’t you already reported it?

And yes, once all of the information is out there I can see the charges against you being dropped. I hope they are since it doesn’t appear it actually was your intent to deprive the guy of his property.


Have you reported the fact he has effectively stolen your tools? Knowing the guy is holding your tools could make this disappear quite quickly.

Let me try this a different way.

1) I worked for 2 weeks expecting a paycheck, with absolutely no knowledge I was not going to be paid. I expected my services to be "for profit"
2) He didn't tell me that he was replacing the door until the same day he told me he wasn't paying me, I quit immediately.
3) He didn't tell me because he knew if he told me I was not going to get paid, I would have stopped working for him immediately and pursed gainful employment.
4) He used deceit to gain compensation for his loss, because it was easier than being honest and having to take me to court.
5) Regardless of whether he was entitled to compensation or not, he still used deceit to gain that compensation.
6) The element of deceit exists by basic definition, he doesn't eliminate that fact because he thought I owed him. He knew I didn't know his intentions.

deceit - the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth.

No I have not reported the fact that he took my tools, though I do have an email from him stating that he did. I have not reported the theft of tools or services yet because I wanted to leave the proper strategy up to the attorney. I've successfully battled in court on my own over less important matters (traffic), but this is serious, I don't want to screw it up.

I hope you're right jk. My intention never was to deprive him of his tools, just to get the compensation that I needed to care for my family and seek gainful employment elsewhere. In fact I didn't want his tools so much that I haven't even used any of them, they're still boxed up collecting dust.

Sorry but that is still not theft of services. He did “pay” you. It’s just that is was applied to a debt he claimed you owed him.

Now, if he didn’t deduct the earned pay from the debt owed, then you can argue he didn’t pay you.

Using your argument every week when there are deductions from my paycheck the employer is guilty of theft of services. It isn’t and that’s because although I didn’t get the money in my hand it was applied to various claims against my pay.

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Quoting jk

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Sorry but that is still not theft of services. He did “pay” you. It’s just that is was applied to a debt he claimed you owed him.

Now, if he didn’t deduct the earned pay from the debt owed, then you can argue he didn’t pay you.

Using your argument every week when there are deductions from my paycheck the employer is guilty of theft of services. It isn’t and that’s because although I didn’t get the money in my hand it was applied to various claims against my pay.

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You're a W2, I'm a 1099. If I were a W2 I could have just contacted the labor board and he would have absolutely no claim to damages unless it could be proven that I did them intentionally.

Completely different set of rules.

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Quoting Unfetteredmight

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You're a W2, I'm a 1099. If I were a W2 I could have just contacted the labor board and he would have absolutely no claim to damages unless it could be proven that I did them intentionally.

Completely different set of rules.

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It still wouldn’t alter your argument that it was theft of services.

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Quoting jk

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It still wouldn’t alter your argument that it was theft of services.

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Look dude, I don't know what your credentials are but a seasoned and well respected attorney from the county this case is in specifically told me to file charges under that KRS.

So you can continue to be stubborn and think you're right, but I'll go with his advice.

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Quoting Unfetteredmight

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Look dude, I don't know what your credentials are but a seasoned and well respected attorney from the county this case is in specifically told me to file charges under that KRS.

So you can continue to be stubborn and think you're right, but I'll go with his advice.

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I’m not here to argue with you. I’m just telling you how I see things based on what you’ve said here. While I think you are being charged with a crime you should not be, I don’t think there’s a chance in hell the guy will be charged with theft of services. It just doesn’t meet the requirements of the law and the law was not designed to take a contractual dispute to the level of criminal actions.

So go go ahead and file your report regarding theft of services. Be aware the longer you wait the less serious any prosecutor will take your claim. Many actual crimes have not been prosecuted because the actions of the victim showed they didn’t consider it truly as a crime since they didn’t report it in a timely fashion but waited to see how other issues within the situstion played out.

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Quoting Unfetteredmight

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Look dude, I don't know what your credentials are but a seasoned and well respected attorney from the county this case is in specifically told me to file charges under that KRS.

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You are free to make any report you choose to the police. You can later ask the lawyer who is telling you to make the report, but isn't advising you about anything you're asking in this thread, why the police aren't bringing charges. If he's competent, he will give you the explanation you've already received from jk.