California Criminal Lawyer Blog

White collar crimes in Sacramento are considered to be non-violent and intended to reap monetary benefits.

These can vary and range from identity theft to embezzlement to Medicare and Medi-Cal fraud and computer crimes. All are intended to make money, but don't use violence or intimidation, such as robbery, to accomplish the goal.

The consequence of being charged with these types of crimes is that not only do they come with lengthy prison terms if a person is convicted, but they also can lead to restitution. Restitution is when a judge orders a certain amount of money to be paid back to the victims after a defendant has been convicted.

Sacramento criminal defense lawyers have seen many situations where a person is convicted for a while collar crime, sent to prison and then ordered to pay back restitution upon their release. What judges and prosecutors don't take into consideration is that after not working for months or years and still having outside bills, such as a mortgage, a family's cost of living expenses and others, they will come out of prison with little money.

And with a conviction, they have less of a chance of finding work, especially in this difficult economy, where jobs are scarce. With the nation's economy struggling, some people have turned to scams and schemes that are designed to help them profit. One major area of that is in mortgage fraud.

As The Sacramento Bee recently reported, three men from Elk Grove pleaded guilty in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme. Prosecutors alleged they changed their names to Muslim-sounding names in order to obtain new credit and conceal their poor credit histories.

Homes were purchased with these new identities and after the houses fell into foreclosure, they would legally change their names again. They admitted during a plea hearing that they changed their names and lied about their income levels and employment histories on loan applications.

Another prevalent white collar crime that has emerged in recent years has been the "pill mill." In these cases, doctors, pharmacists and other heath care professionals have been under the close eye of law enforcement.

In most situations where these crimes have been committed, doctors are over-writing prescriptions to people who are filling the prescriptions and illegally selling the pills to people who don't have prescriptions. As part of the scheme, doctors and pharmacists are getting a cut of the profit. Many times, Medicare or Medi-Cal is being billed for the prescriptions, which constitutes fraud on those programs as well.

In any of these white collar crimes, there are defenses. When a large-scale scheme is alleged, there are typically many people arrested. And many times, not everyone knows each other. Less-involved participants may have just been taking orders from bosses and had no idea there was an illegal scheme going on. Doctors may not have known that the patients were fake and scheming to sell the drugs. In mortgage fraud cases, title companies and loan servicers may not have been aware of a scheme run by a real estate professional.

The prosecution has a heavy burden of proving each person arrested participated in the scheme. And proving the amount that was lost is also a challenge. A Sacramento criminal defense lawyer will work to compile all evidence disputing the charges in order to ensure the defendant has a fair trial.