What Would This Be Called?

[gtzdad]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

After hurricane Ike, one of our co-workers (we'll call her Ida) lost everything and didn't have insurance on her house. There was an account set up at the local credit union for this employee, opened by my boss that we'll call Bob.(in his name etc...but for the benefit of the Ida)

Various employees were able to make to make contributions to this account since it was opened to help her out until FEMA was able to step in and do something for her. As I understand it, there was around 1700 contributed to the account since it was opened.

During this time, Bob was secretly taking the money out of the account he set up for Ida and spending it on himself to the tune of a little over 700 dollars. When Ida found out about it, she wanted to know if there was anything that could be done because after all, he opened the account, it was in his name, but it was set up for her and people made the contributions to the account for her, not him.

What would this be called, if anything, and what could be done about it?

 

[cyjeff]

It would be fraud perpetrated against the people that donated.

 

[gtzdad]

It would be fraud perpetrated against the people that donated.

Thanks for the fast response cyjeff. Since I am one of those that donated to that account, whom should I make a report to? Should it be local authorities or federal? I find it sickening that he could do something like this. He still has his home, she lost hers and he's stealing from her!

 

[Some Random Guy]

Contact the local police. They should be able to help you or point you to the correct people.

 

[j991]

I cetainly agree that this is fraud, however, I advise contacting the state police. Generally they have better resources to track the withdrawls, deposits, etc.

 

[outonbail]

Before you contact the police you should get whatever proof you have together to present to the police. If there was any sort of office memo informing the employees that this account was set up for this specific purpose.

If not, how were the employees informed of what account to deposit funds into?

The detectives should be able to get information on when this specific account was opened up. However, need some sot of an accounting with a total sum of money that was deposited and a spread sheet identifying who it was that deposited the funds.

If the people who donated have a receipt or canceled check you should have them get their proof of the deposit together as well.

Since the account was in Bob's name, it was legally his account to do with however he chooses. So you will need to have solid evidence that he agreed to utilize this account for the sole purpose of the donations for the fellow employee.

Could he have had his own money in the account before he set it up to help out your fellow employee or was the only money deposited in this account strictly employee donations?

How did you discover that he removed money that should have gone to the homeless employee?

An accounting has to be done and you will need the bank records for this, so don't jump the gun until you have all the records available to you, which will support your claim of these misappropriated funds.

 

[CavemanLawyer]

There is no crime of "fraud" in Texas. It could be charged as theft (PC 31.03) but a more applicable charge would be misapplication of fiduciary property (PC 32.45) because the money was held in trust for her and he clearly used it in a manner that was opposed to what the donors agreed to. It doesn't matter that he set up the account and had complete access to it, it still was not his money. Based on the amount stolen or misapplied, this would only be a Class A misdemeanor under either statute. (Unless you've got aggravating facts, like if Ida is over 65 yrs old.)

Depending on the specifics of how he accessed or spent the money there could be higher charges, such as if he did any kind of forgery or used a credit card. Considering that he created the account though, more than likely these won't apply.

File a complaint with your local police and let them investigate.