DISMISSED | FELONY CRIMINAL DAMAGE – (Pinal County Superior Court No. 200201480CR): Mr. R. was going through a divorce when his soon to be ex-wife accused him of damaging her vehicle. Mr. R had been keeping an extensive log of activities due to previous false allegations by his wife. Through an extensive investigation, we were able to show that she was untruthful, and the Pinal County Attorney’s Office dismissed all charges.
DISMISSED | FELONY CRIMINAL DAMAGE – (Maricopa County Superior Court No. 0202109CR): Mr. C. was a dorm resident at ASU University. Another resident called police and claimed that approximately 2 months earlier she had witnessed him tearing down ceiling tiles in the dorm, which resulted in approximately $250.00 in damage. Due to the obvious discrepancies in her story, we were able to have the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office dismiss all charges.
REDUCED | FRAUD SCHEMES/EMBEZZLEMENT ($506,000); REDUCED to THEFT with 1 YEAR in PRISON – State v. Ms. C. (DMC No. 8534) (Maricopa County Superior Court CR2009-143747): Ms. C. worked in the accounting department of a home mortgage company. She developed a gambling addiction and wrote 104 checks totaling $506,000 to herself over the course of several years. Although the money had been spent, we were able to have Ms. C. enrolled into a gambling addition program, and we secured an offer that capped mandated prison time at 1 ½ years. Through our mitigation efforts, the judge only sentenced Ms. C. to 1 year in prison. With early release and time off for good behavior, she was released after 7 months.
CONVICTION REVERSED/ SENTENCE REDUCED | AGGRAVATED ASSAULT (with gun) ON POLICE OFFICER: 10.5 YEAR PRISON SENTENCE LATER REDUCED to DISORDERLY CONDUCT with TIME SERVED and IMMEDIATE RELEASE – State v. Mr. C. (DMC No. 11625) (Maricopa County Superior Court CR200-131155): Mr. C. had been asleep inside his house when he was awakened by various police officers and a police helicopter searching for a burglary suspect. He walked outside and stood on his lawn with a gun in his hand that was inside of its holster. An off duty officer came and told Mr. C. to get back in his house, and Mr. C. stated it was his right to stand on his lawn. The officer became concerned because Mr. C. was holding a holstered gun, so he tased Mr. C., and he was taken into custody. Mr. C. was charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon against a police officer, which carries a mandatory minimum of 10.5 years in prison. His trial attorney neglected to tell him that if he went to trial, that he would not be eligible for the mitigated term of 7 years. He then went to trial and questionable testimony was given from several of the officers, and he was convicted. He hired another law firm to do his appeal, and the conviction was upheld. Our firm was hired to handle his Post Conviction Relief Petition under Rule 32, and we secured a Hearing in which the media became involved. Ultimately, the conviction was set aside and a new plea deal was offered to Mr. C. for a plea of Disorderly Conduct with “time served”. Mr. C. was released that same day after having spent over 3 years in prison due to his previous lawyer’s representation.
NOT CHARGED | FEDERAL RICO/MONEY LAUNDERING/BANK and WIRE FRAUD ($300,000) NOT CHARGED – State v. Mr. R. (DMC No. 6695) (U.S. Secret Service/United States Attorney’s Office Investigated): Mr. R. was employed as a Telemarketer for a company in which he was to handle the funds that were deposited into a Wells Fargo Bank account. During the course of the sales, the individuals would provide credit card numbers for purchase. Mr. R. and his group were accused of posing as Account Holders in order to authorize electronic transfers for a higher dollar amounts. Total loss was estimated to be $300,000. Mr. R. was not the primary target of the Secret Services investigation, and a “cooperative deal” was negotiated in which no charges were brought against Mr. R. Originally he was facing a lengthy stay in the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
EMBEZZLEMENT/FRAUDULENT SCHEMES ($451,000) and THEFT REDUCED to ATTEMPT and FORGERY with 4 YEARS in PRISON – State v. Ms. P (DMC No. 6934) (Maricopa County Superior Court CR2005-034311): Ms. P began working for an engineering company after she had been out of work for 18 months. She had given birth to a son who had various health problems and had run up numerous medical bills. As creditors began to hound her, she began writing checks directly from the company to herself, and forged the signature of the owner. Over the course of 3 years she had embezzled $451,000. Even though she easily paid off the medical bills, she continued to take money because of the life style. Prosecutors were originally seeking to send her to prison for over 10 years. We were able to bring in a Mitigation Specialist who interviewed various witnesses and provided psychological assessment of Ms. P. We secured an offer to an Attempted Fraudulent Schemes and Forgery which gave the judge discretion to sentence Ms. P to anywhere from 3.5 years of prison on the low end, up to 8.75 of years on the high end. The judge gave a 4 year sentence (less than half of what was possible). With good behavior, Ms. P was released from prison after 3 years and 4 months of her sentence was complete.
REDUCED | THEFT ($324,000) REDUCED to class 6 open/misdemeanor with PROBATION and 30 DAYS in JAIL – State v. Mr. H. (DMC No. 6534) (Maricopa County Superior Court CR2006-031231): Mr. H. worked for a local “truss” company, and he was responsible for placing all orders. He would order more trusses that were actually needed, and then would hide the existence of the purchase of the extra trusses. He would then sell the extra trusses on the side to make additional income. This went on over the course of years, and when it was discovered, we became involved in the case. We negotiated a partial civil settlement with Mr. H.’s former company, and we’re able to prevent charges of Fraudulent Schemes from being filed. However, the charge of Theft was filed. Due to the cooperation with the Gila River Police Department and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, we secured an offer to a class 6 open/misdemeanor with probation and 30 days in jail. Upon completion of probation, the case was turned into a misdemeanor and Mr. H. has no felony on his record.
NOT CHARGED | FRADULENT SCHEMES/MORTGAGE FRAUD ($289,000) FORGERY – State v. Mr. D. (DMC No. 8662) (Private Law Firm Investigated): Mr. D. owned an investment company and had Power of Attorney for a client that he had been friends with for approximately 7 years. The client was out of the country and had Mr. D. sign off for the client on various home loan documents. Unfortunately, Mr. D. signed the client’s name itself, instead of signing his name as Power of Attorney. When the housing market turned, the client attempted to back out of all his loans by claiming that he had no knowledge that Mr. D. had signed the documents on his behalf (even though his wife and children all lived inside the house). A private law firm became involved and threatened ligation and criminal prosecution. We were able to point out that the alleged victim’s claims were ridiculous because he lived in the house and would have obviously known that financial documents would have been signed and that a transaction took place. Even though the house went into foreclosure and there was over $289,000 in loses, no criminal prosecution was brought and all civil lawsuits were shut down.
CONVICTION REVERSED | SECOND DEGREE MURDER – (DMC No. 9275) (Maricopa County Superior Court No. CR2006-04688): Ms. G. had previously been convicted of Second Degree Murder after she shot her nephew twice in the head. At the time of the incident she was almost 60 years old and her nephew was in his early 20’s. He was very abusive to her, and was attacking her when she utilized her gun for self-defense. Unfortunately, Ms. G. used a Court-appointed attorney and was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Through searching the trial record we were able to show that her attorney was ineffective and did not present the proper jury instructions. After we filed our Post-Conviction Relief Petition, the judge agreed and reversed her conviction.
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ILLEGALLY CONDUCTING an ENTERPRISE/RICO ($251,000), FRAUDULENT SCHEMES, PARTICIPATING in a CRIMINAL SYNDICATE, (20 COUNTS) FORGERY, (9 COUNTS) IDENTITY THEFT & (14 COUNTS) FRAUDULENT PREPARATION of TAX RETURNS REDUCED to 1 COUNT of POSSESSION of a FORGERY DEVICE (Class 6 Open/Misdemeanor) with PROBATION and ZERO DAYS in JAIL – State v. Ms. D (DMC No. 8354) (Maricopa County Superior Court CR2007-008286): Ms. D’s father owned a tax preparation business that she worked for. Her father and his wife would meet numerous clients and sign them up for tax services. It appeared that her father was receiving falsified Social Security cards and other false documents in order to file fraudulent tax returns. After their returns were prepared, Ms. D’s father would ask her to sign his signature on the returns themselves. This resulted in over $1,000,000 of loss in tax revenue.
Although Ms. D and both her parents were indicted along with other co-conspirators, she had no direct information that these were fraudulent returns. Through Forensic Accounting, hand writing experts and numerous interviews we were able to show that she was an innocent pawn in the fraudulent scheme. Her father ended up being sentenced to prison, and Ms. D had all 46 counts reduced to a single count of Possessing a Forgery Device (i.e. holding a pen that signed her father’s names to the returns) in exchange for Probation with no jail. When she completed probation, that one charge was converted to a Misdemeanor. Ms. D has no felony on her record.