Fraud and Identity Theft Lawyer in Mesa, AZ

Inside city limits, the unit that works these reports is Mesa Police's Document and Financial Crimes Unit. Its page lists identity theft tied to credit, medical care, phone and utility accounts, or a citation or arrest, along with counterfeit currency, forged, counterfeit, washed and insufficient funds checks, credit card fraud, internet crimes and mail theft. People can also report identity theft, card fraud, forgery, wire fraud, counterfeiting and false pretenses through the department's online reporting system, for incidents that happened in Mesa.

The unit's fraud packet covers identity theft, card fraud, check forgery and account fraud. The posted version tells the reporting person to submit it only if they want prosecution and warns that they may have to testify. It requires a notarized affidavit, credit reports showing the accounts in dispute, the statements and checks behind each transaction, and a request asking creditors to release application and transaction records to Mesa Police. It also asks whether the reporting person knows the suspect, how they are related, and whether they ever gave that person permission to use their information. An incomplete packet, it says, will not be investigated, and a detective makes contact only if the documents lead to a suspect.

Two things follow. The accusation can depend largely on the material one person collected and how they read their own statements, and the permission question gets answered in writing before anyone has heard your side. A.R.S. § 13-2008 covers knowingly using or possessing another person's identifying information without consent, with an unlawful purpose or an intent to cause loss, so what was allowed, by whom and for how long can sit at the center of the case.

Businesses that receive a forged check use a separate forgery packet. It asks for the original check in a protective sleeve, a witness form from each employee involved, any surveillance video or photos, and a copy of the identification the presenter used, with its number written on the check. It also lists an ink print of the presenter's right index finger. Without the print and the ID number on the check, the packet says, the case will not be investigated at this time. What a business failed to collect can be as telling as what it kept.

The unit treats each new use of a stolen card or check as a separate crime, and it asks merchants that absorbed a loss to make their own police reports, noting that a business that accepted a fraudulent payment may be the recognized victim for prosecution. One lost wallet can turn into several reports, several victims and several counts.

Bounced checks take a different road. Mesa Police refers checks written on a closed account or with insufficient funds, up to a dollar limit its page sets, to the Maricopa County Attorney's Check Enforcement Program to be handled civilly. The program's page has the merchant send a demand for payment first and says the office can pursue charges, which could mean a summons to criminal court or a warrant. The County Attorney lists the program among its diversion programs. A letter from it should go to a lawyer before you phone the number printed on it.

Nearly every charge here is a felony. Section 13-2008 sets class 4 for taking another's identity even when nobody suffered an economic loss, and A.R.S. § 13-2002 generally makes forgery class 4 as well, including offering or presenting a forged instrument with intent to defraud, accepted or not. Mesa's City Prosecutor hands felonies to the County Attorney, and certain state cases belong to the Attorney General, often when the conduct reaches beyond one county or a state agency did the investigative work. We handle these matters whichever office brought the charge. Felony hearings take place in the downtown Central Court Building or South Court Tower; confirm the building on your current notice. A related misdemeanor, such as a small theft, can stay at Mesa Municipal Court.

Some Mesa fraud never stays with a city detective. The unit forwards counterfeit currency cases to the U.S. Secret Service when no one was arrested at the scene, and it does not investigate internet crimes locally, pointing those victims to U.S. Postal Inspectors for mail-related losses and to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center for the rest. Federal charges bring federal rules of procedure and a different sentencing system. Nova Law Group appears in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona; for Mesa, that court sits in Phoenix.

Avoiding jail is not the same as avoiding a conviction. Fraud, forgery and identity theft convictions speak to trust, and employers who handle money, medical records or customer data tend to ask about them. A felony conviction makes a person a prohibited possessor under A.R.S. § 13-3101 until firearm rights are restored. On conviction, § 13-603(C) requires restitution of the full economic loss the court determines, and a computer tampering conviction adds forfeiture under § 13-2316(C) of a computer or phone that the person owned or used exclusively and that was used in the offense. If you are not a U.S. citizen, get immigration advice before any plea.