Can you still be charged for cashing a stolen check even though they got their money back?
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Can you still be charged for cashing a stolen check even though they got their money back?
I got cond into cashing a check that was stolen
but they got their money back from the bank.
Can I still be charged? I got ahold of the person
whos check it was and told him what
happened with his check and he said he wasnt
going to press any charges on me.
Asked on November 2, 2018 under Criminal Law, Nevada
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
Yes, you can be charged: repaying the victim does not make a crime not a crime, otherwise everyone who steals in any fashion (by fraud, by deception, by burglary, by robbery, etc.) would simply repay their victim and avoid punishment. Once a crime is committed, it was committed, regardless of what happened later.
That said:
1) It's only a crime if you had criminal intent. If you knew or logically should have known the check was stolen but cashed it anyway, that would be criminal; if you reasonably thought the check was not stolen (e.g. that someone had voluntarily endorsed it over to you; that the person who gave it to you had authority to write from that account; etc.) that is not a crime.
2) Even if it was criminal, if the victim does not go and press charges, there is almost no chance that this will come to the authorities' attention or that you will be charged. They don't go actively looking for things like this.
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