| Embezzlement | | | | employer and aggregates four hundred dollars |
| | | | ($400) or more in any 12 consecutive month |
| Embezzlement is the crime of stealing funds | | | | period." |
| of property of an employer, company, or | | | | |
| government. It may also mean money or assets | | | | Embezzlement is considered grand theft and is |
| held in a trust account. It is the illegal | | | | usually punished as a felony. Generally, |
| transfer or money, or property, which is | | | | grand theft is usually punishable up to one |
| diverted from the employer to the embezzler. | | | | year in the county jail or a maximum sentence |
| The fraudulent intent required for | | | | of 16 months, 2, or 3 years in state prison. |
| embezzlement is the intent to deprive the | | | | The preceding terms are referred to as the |
| owner of the property or where the property | | | | "low, mid, and high." The California |
| is diverted to the embezzler's own use. Even | | | | Legislature has stated that the middle term |
| where a person intended to eventually return | | | | is the appropriate sentence to give out in a |
| the property, it is still embezzlement. | | | | felony case, unless mitigating or aggravating |
| | | | circumstances exists which would merit a |
| California Penal Code Section 503 reads, | | | | lower or higher sentence. For example, an |
| | | | aggravating circumstance occurs where an |
| "Embezzlement is the fraudulent appropriation | | | | embezzlement victim is elderly, or dependent, |
| of property by a person to whom it has been | | | | thus justifying the imposition of the high |
| entrusted." | | | | term. An example of a mitigating |
| | | | circumstance would be where the embezzler |
| Embezzlement takes many forms. Embezzlement | | | | makes full restitution to the victim, so long |
| typically occurs in the employment and | | | | as it is prior to the information being laid |
| corporate settings. Examples include a store | | | | down before the magistrate or the grand |
| clerk who takes money from the register and | | | | jury's indictment for embezzlement. It is in |
| puts it in their own pocket, or it could mean | | | | the judge's discretion to alter the |
| a bank manager stealing customer deposit | | | | sentencing scheme in light of the weight of |
| receipts and account information, and then | | | | the mitigating circumstances. |
| siphoning bank money into his own pocket. | | | | |
| | | | However, unless it is specifically precluded |
| California Penal Code Section 487 reads: | | | | by a statute, a judge can sentence a |
| | | | convicted felon to a grant of probation. |
| "Grand theft is theft committed in any of the | | | | Among other things, the court may require the |
| following cases: | | | | defendant, as a term and condition of |
| | | | probation, to serve local jail time, pay |
| Where the money, labor, or real or personal | | | | fines, complete community service and pay |
| property is taken by a servant, agent, or | | | | restitution. |
| employee from his or her principal or | | | | |