Virginia Embezzlement Investigations

Virginia embezzlement investigations need to prove theft and the element of intent. If a person makes a mistake when calculating the amount of money that was transacted and it can be shown that the mistake was an honestly made, the prosecution will fail at proving embezzlement. In addition to showing theft, the government must prove that the person who has been charged with embezzlement was an employee of the company.

An experienced embezzlement lawyer can advise you on the best defense based on the facts of your case. A Virginia embezzlement lawyer can anticipate the arguments of the prosecution in order to plan a case towards your desired outcome.

Proving Embezzlement

The larger the entity, the more likely it is that they will be victimized by embezzlement, because if an organization has a whole lot of moving parts and a whole lot of dollars coming in and out, they may not be so easily missed as opposed to a small company that has a much lower level of cash wealth.

The first thing that they need to prove in an embezzlement case is that theft occurred. Because Virginia embezzlement investigations inherently involve the abuse of trust that is given to an employee, the prosecutors, generally speaking, are much more aggressive when it comes to prosecuting embezzlement cases. They need a warrant anytime they are seeking documentation that is not being consensually given to them. If they are not going to be getting it by consent, then they have to be able through a warrant.

Investigating Embezzlement Cases

Virginia embezzlement investigations begin with loss prevention of the company and their own internal investigations about what happened to the money. Often, they complete the investigation on their own without the employee even knowing.

Once they make a decision that they can prove the case, that is when the police are notified. When the police are notified, they will step in to try to interview the person who is being accused but in a lot of cases loss prevention or whatever internal security the company has will step in and try to interview that person before the police even get involved. The vast majority of investigation in embezzlement cases takes place on an internal level within the company that has been allegedly victimized.

If the government is investigating an embezzlement case, often the company who has has been allegedly victimized by an embezzlement crime will simply hand over financial documents to the government. However, if there are documents involved in the Virginia embezzlement investigation that the government feels that will begin their own investigation and can actually subpoena or issue warrants or bank documents or other kinds of financial documents they feel they need in order to prove their case.

Law Enforcement Agencies

The county police agencies that monitor the county in which the person is being accused have white collar divisions and detectives who are trained and who exclusively investigate white collar cases like embezzlement. Virginia embezzlement investigations are unique because it is an employer-employee crime. The employee is stealing from the employer and there is not many other areas of the criminal law that deal with the employer-employee relationship that makes it unique.