CA Penal Code 487 – Grand Theft

CA Penal Code 487 – Grand Theft charges apply when a person unlawfully takes someone else’s “money, labor, or real or personal property” exceeding $950 in value. Grand theft falls into the “wobbler” category and, as a result, can carry misdemeanor or felony charges at the prosecution’s discretion.

To ensure you are treated fairly by the justice system and experience the best possible outcome for your case, learn more about the California penal codes. Then, reach out to Los Angeles DUI Lawyer. We’ve spent nearly two decades connecting people with skilled and experienced lawyers. Our team is here to be your legal resource and help you kickstart your defense. 

Theft Defined

California Penal Code § 487 declares offenders guilty of theft when they “steal, take, carry, lead, or drive away” someone else’s personal property.

Additionally, charges of theft apply to those who:

• Use fraudulent means to appropriate property entrusted to them.
• Knowingly defraud someone of money, labor, or property.
• Use pretense to credit, which they then use to secure the money, property, labor, or services of another.

Grand Theft Explained

California law acknowledges two degrees of theft: petty theft and grand theft. If you steal property, money, or services valued at less than $950, you have committed petty theft. If the value of the stolen property exceeds $950, you have committed grand theft. 

Grand theft also applies if you steal another person’s vehicle or firearm. For certain properties, grand theft charges apply if the value of the stolen property exceeds $250. California recognizes four categories of grand theft crimes under California Penal Code 487:

• Larceny
• False Pretenses
• Trickery
• Embezzlement

Grand Theft by Larceny

When you commit grand theft by larceny, you take another person’s property and move it elsewhere. You don’t have to move the item far. If you move a person’s phone just a few inches away, putting it out of their sight so you can take it home with you later, you can be charged with grand larceny.

For a conviction, prosecutors must prove that you:

• Took the person’s property without that person’s permission
• Intended to keep the property permanently or temporarily, but long enough to deprive the owner of a substantial amount of the property’s value
• Actually moved the property

Grand Theft by False Pretenses

If you knowingly and purposefully tell another person something that is not true to deceive them, you have made a “false pretense” under California Penal Code 532. The act becomes criminal when you make that pretense with the intent to persuade the other person to allow you to take ownership of their property.

Because that person trusted in your false pretense, they allowed you to take their property. To prove you have actually made a false pretense, prosecutors must show you intended to deceive the other person and did one of the following:

• Gave them information that you knew was false.
• Claimed something as true, though you have no evidence or reason to believe it is.
• Failed to provide information you were obligated to give.
• Made promises you had no intention of keeping.

California Penal Code 487 requires specific evidence to prove crimes of theft by false pretense. An experienced defense lawyer will make sure you are not convicted without sufficient evidence.

Grand Theft by Trick

There is a crucial distinction between grand theft by false pretense and grand theft by trick. Under the false pretense statute, the property owner gives you possession and ownership of their property. For grand theft by trick, the property owner does not intend to give you permanent ownership.

Committing grand theft by trick means that:

• You obtained someone else’s property knowing it was owned by that person.
• You convinced the property owner to give you possession of the property through deceitful methods.
• You took the property with the intent to keep it permanently or to keep it from the owner long enough to deprive them of enjoyment or a significant amount of the property’s value.
• You held on to the property, even for just a brief time period.
• The property’s rightful owner did not intend to give you ownership of that property.

Grand Theft by Embezzlement

Sometimes, another person may give you control of their property and trust you to manage it honestly. If the police believe that you instead deprived the owner of that property and used it to benefit yourself, you may be charged with grand theft by embezzlement. 

You can be accused of this crime even if you intended to return the property before your misdeeds are discovered.

For example, suppose that you work in an expensive clothing store and take thousands of dollars worth of clothes, shoes, and accessories to wear to a fancy affair. This action could lead to a grand theft by embezzlement charge. The charges apply even if you plan to return the items after the affair.

Legal Consequences for California Penal Code 487 Violations

To decide whether to charge you with a misdemeanor or felony crime, prosecutors will consider your criminal history and the specifics of your offense. If the property you stole was a firearm, felony charges are automatic, and the charge will count as a “strike” under California’s three-strike sentencing laws.

Misdemeanor penalties can bring up to a year in county jail. Felony convictions can bring felony probation along with up to one year in jail, or a 16-month, two-year, or three-year period of incarceration. You can also face sentencing enhancements of an additional one to four years in state prison, depending on the value of the property stolen.

What Distinguishes Misdemeanor Grand Theft From Felony Grand Theft?

Grand theft, as mentioned, constitutes a wobbler crime, meaning that California’s criminal courts can charge you with either a misdemeanor or felony in the wake of an alleged crime. The distinction between these categorizations often comes down to:

• The circumstances under which police officers arrested you
• Your history of convictions, including petty theft convictions and vehicle code violations

Parties without any previous convictions or who didn’t break any other laws at the time of their arrest are more likely to face misdemeanor charges. Comparatively, someone with a history of theft convictions or who injured or killed someone while engaging in grand theft will face felony charges.

Both a misdemeanor and a felony conviction may require you to pay victim restitution to injured parties, depending on the value of items allegedly removed from their possession. Unfortunately, either conviction may also cause you to lose a professional license or the right to work in certain fields.

Additional Penalties for Felony Grand Theft

California’s criminal courts can also compound the charges brought against parties accused of theft based on the value of property removed from someone else’s possession. For example, if you’re accused of stealing property valued at more than $50,000, you may face an extra year in state prison on top of your original sentence. You may also face:

• An additional two years of imprisonment for the theft of property valued at over $200,000
• An additional three years of imprisonment for the theft of property valued at over $1,000,000
• An additional four years of imprisonment for the theft of property valued at over $3,000,000, with 
• An extra year of imprisonment added on for every time you allegedly exceed that $3,000,000 value

California’s criminal courts should break down the specific charges you risk facing during your arraignment, at which point you can outline what criminal consequences you may face if you don’t argue against accusations of theft.

You can work with an experienced Los Angeles criminal defense attorney to break down the logistics of your charges and begin crafting a defense designed to see those charges reduced or dropped.

Does Wage Theft Constitute Grand Theft?

If your employees accuse you of intentionally failing to pay them, you may face charges of wage theft. California employees can accuse employers of wage theft under California PC 487 if:

• One employee withstands a loss of more than $950 over the course of a year.
• Employees collectively withstand a loss of more than $2,350 over the course of a year.

You can discuss the logistics of a wage theft charge, as well as its overlap with a grand theft charge, during defense consultations with the attorneys in Los Angeles DUI Lawyer’s professional network.

Defending Against Accusations of Grand Theft

You have every right to counter assertions that you engaged in grand theft. An experienced criminal defense attorney can walk you through the process of challenging the prosecution’s evidence and calling motive and right into question.

These efforts make it easier for you to have the charges against you reduced or dropped. Some of the best defenses used in today’s grand theft cases include the following:

Lack of Intent

The prosecutor involved in your case has an obligation to prove that you fully intended to remove property from someone else’s possession at the time of an alleged robbery. Without intention, there’s no crime.

You may subsequently make clear to the prosecutor, judge, and jury that when you removed belongings from someone else’s possession, you did so under the belief that you could legally do so or that you did so by accident.

Lack of knowledge becomes clearest when an attorney can refer to video footage, photos, and witness statements depicting the misunderstanding or other accidental circumstances that led you to remove property from someone else’s possession.

Claim of Right

Lack of intent is one thing; a claim of right is another. If you reasonably believed that you had ownership of a contested piece of property and removed it from someone else’s possession, you have not committed a crime.

There is a chance that you’ve made a mistake and don’t actually possess the property in question, but there’s as much of a chance that the property’s previous owner didn’t report the “loss” of their property in good faith.

You can prove a claim of right with help from emails, text messages, and other records of conversations you may have had about who might take possession of contested property.

Consent

If there is obvious evidence that someone allowed you to take possession of disputed property, you have not committed a crime. You can call on eyewitnesses, pull up video recordings, and refer to recorded communications to prove that someone allowed you to take ownership of the property that the prosecution alleges you stole.

False Accusations

Unfortunately, there are some people in the world who attempt to leverage misinterpretations of the law against people they don’t like. You may face false accusations of grand theft in the wake of transactions gone wrong and relationships gone sour.

Some people may even attempt to accuse you of theft due to personal biases. These people have no grounds on which they can accuse you of wrongdoing and do not have the right to leverage those biases in an attempt to punish you for a perceived wrongdoing.

If you believe that someone is trying to make false accusations of grand theft against you, you can work with a criminal defense attorney. They will help you bring your accuser’s biases and misconstrued information to light. Proving that someone falsely accused you of theft out of bias can even lead California’s criminal courts to punish your accuser for their misconduct.

You Need a Strong Defender

A knowledgeable defense attorney can help you fight accusations of a California Penal Code Section 487 violation.

After investigating your case, your Los Angeles County lawyer will mount a defense. They may seek to prove that you had no intent to steal, you had a right to the property, the owner consented to give you the property, or you are a victim of false accusation.

Whatever the circumstances, your lawyer will fight for you, protecting your interests and rights and delivering the best result possible. Reach out to Los Angeles DUI Lawyer today to be put in touch with a skilled attorney who will challenge your California Penal Code 487 PC charges.