A legal question

[phillyshooter]

My cousin Chris received a letter in the mail yesterday from the District Attorney's Office. Long story short, he fraudulently collected around $8000 in Unemployment and now the D.A. and Unemployment are filing a criminal summary offense against him. He currently has his LTCF in Philadelphia and is the person who got me in to guns. He's never been arrested before and is an all around good citizen, except for the illegal $8000 he collected from Unemployment. He asked me what he could possibly face as far as his LTCF, fines, and jail time go. I have no clue since I'm not a lawyer, maybe someone here can shed some light on the subject for me to tell him what to expect. He has every intention on repaying the money and is just worried about what this will do to his life.

[schr8er2000]

This is the latest information I have on this....

ARE THERE PENALTIES FOR FRAUD?

Anyone who makes false statements or who knowingly withholds information to illegally obtain benefits can be prosecuted. If convicted, the person must repay the full amount and, if repayment is not made, a lien may be filed against the person to recover the money. A fine of up to $200 and 30 days in jail for each check illegally obtained can be imposed. The individual is then ineligible to receive unemployment compensation for one year following the date of the conviction.


SO.. if he received 10 checks he would be fined $2000 ($200 X 10 ).... and could be in jail for 300 days......

That is the worse that could happen.... unless they determine that he exceeded the requirements to be charged with a felony.....

THEN.... he can no longer maintain his rights to vote, firearms..etc...

Sorry... but this is the information I got online.....

[ihunt49]

I'm sure it can be plea bargained down to restitution and maybe probation. They plea bargain down more serious crimes everyday.

[jofreder]

Originally Posted by ihunt49

I'm sure it can be plea bargained down to restitution and maybe probation. They plea bargain down more serious crimes everyday.

Yes but, if the sentence for the crime could be a year or more it does not matter that he only gets probation he will still lose his LTCF. It matters what the sentence could be not what you actually get.

[General Geoff]

Multiple counts of a lesser crime to not constitute a single offense punishable by 1 year in prison or more. I think he's safe as far as that goes.

[pex]

Originally Posted by phillyshooter

He asked me what he could possibly face as far as his LTCF[...]

Well it would be revoked, just to make it a pain in the ass for the person who has the LTCF. If he can fraud the government, he might shoot it up, right? That's the nature of the discretionary non-discretion we have given our sheriffs.

[headcase]

What he needs to do is retain a lawyer and voice his concerns to them.

[headcase]

Originally Posted by phillyshooter

My cousin Chris received a letter in the mail yesterday from the District Attorney's Office. Long story short, he fraudulently collected around $8000 in Unemployment and now the D.A. and Unemployment are filing a criminal summary offense against him. He currently has his LTCF in Philadelphia and is the person who got me in to guns. He's never been arrested before and is an all around good citizen, except for the illegal $8000 he collected from Unemployment. He asked me what he could possibly face as far as his LTCF, fines, and jail time go. I have no clue since I'm not a lawyer, maybe someone here can shed some light on the subject for me to tell him what to expect. He has every intention on repaying the money and is just worried about what this will do to his life.

How do you know he fraudulently collected the money? Fraud is kind of hard to prove.... And before you answer on a public forum, anything other than ," I just assumed from the letter.", think again...

[phillyshooter]

Originally Posted by headcase

How do you know he fraudulently collected the money? Fraud is kind of hard to prove.... And before you answer on a public forum, anything other than ," I just assumed from the letter.", think again...

I'm just going on what the letter said and what he told me, nothing more nothing less.

[GunLawyer001]

I would expect that he would lose his LTCF if the Sheriff finds out about any convictions for fraud, and I'd expect that the courts would back the Sheriff on this. Anyone who collects unemployment benefits while still working under the table, or based upon someone else's work history, or while unavailable for work by virtue of being on vacation in Hawaii, for any other reason that would make him ineligible to receive the money, actually is the sort of person who has poor character, and maybe we wouldn't want him using his best judgment on when it would be OK to use deadly force. It's arguable, and the Sheriff would be given deference by the courts.

As a general rule, he wouldn't be a prohibited person for convictions that were non-felonies, and were all individually punishable by not more than 2 years in jail. He could own a gun, he just couldn't carry it concealed or in a vehicle.

Like it or not, every person with an LTCF represents us, and his misdeeds will be figured in when deciding whether the current laws are a good idea. We gleefully point to Florida or Texas licensees having a good record on deterring crime and acting lawfully, the other side will just as gleefully point to every LTCF holder who shoots a grandmother in a traffic dispute.