Theft & Property Crimes

Theft, Robbery & Property Crimes

Two ODU Students Charged with Petty Larceny/Shoplifting - CHARGES DISMISSED 
A boyfriend and girlfriend, students at ODU, retained after being charged with petty larceny/shoplifting for attempting to steal several small-value items from a retail store. The facts were conclusive and there was no defense to the facts of the case. As such, we proceeded to court with a strategy focused on mitigation. We presented numerous documents concerning our client's education, their families, and community service, and asked the judge to take the matters under advisement and potentially to dismiss the charges down the road. The judge agreed, and DEFERRED the adjudication of the case for six months. After both clients completed additional community service and we reappeared in court with proof that they had not been charged with any new offenses, the judge DISMISSED the charges.

Private in Marine Corps Charged for Destruction of Property - CHARGES DISMISSED 
A Private in the Marine Corps was charged in Virginia Beach with Public Intoxication and Intentional Destruction of Property, a class 1 misdemeanor. The charges resulted from our client's alleged intoxication and him breaking the side-view mirror of a taxi cab. Immediately upon being retained, we contacted the taxi company to obtain an estimate of the damage, which we suggested our client pay immediately, prior to court. Based upon our client's payment of the damages, the judge granted our request and DISMISSED the destruction of property charge. After presenting evidence of our client's good but brief military career, the fact that he had already been administratively punished by, and suggesting additional conditions to the Court, the judge granted our request for a GENERAL CONTINUANCE of the public intoxication charge. After a period of only three months, the charge was DISMISSED. This outcome allowed for both charges to be able to be expunged from our client's criminal record.

Trespassing Charges - NOT GUILTY 
A merchant marine with a security clearance was charged in Norfolk with Trespassing after being kicked out of a bar with a group of his friends. At trial, the arresting officer testified that our client was intoxicated and acting disorderly once in the parking lot, which led to his arrest for trespassing. Cross-examination of the officer and the testimony of our client established that he had called for a cab and was attempting to distance himself from the situation when he was arrested. After our closing argument, the judge found our client NOT GUILTY.

Larceny & Sale of Government Property - NO CONFINEMENT 
Navy E-5 dental technician was charged with larceny and sale of government property – total of $ 36,000 + of dental gold, over a 2 year period on multiple occasions. Charges were heading into an Art. 32 and a General Court-Martial. We negotiated a plea agreement for referral to a Special Court-Martial, which involved payment of $ 19,000 towards restitution with an 8 month cap on confinement. Upon presentation of an extensive sentencing case, we were able to secure a sentence that had NO CONFINEMENT and no forfeitures or fine.

Obtaining Money By False Pretenses - REDUCED CHARGE 
A local collegiate athlete contacted us after being charged with two misdemeanors of possession of forged money and one felony charge of obtaining money by false pretenses. The charges related to his alleged use of counterfeit currency, and as such, federal charges were also extremely likely. After much negotiation with the federal prosecutor and assistant commonwealth’s attorney, we were able to prevent our client from being prosecuted by the federal government. We also succeeded in securing a plea offer with the state case, wherein our client pleaded guilty to a REDUCED single misdemeanor charge of obtaining money by false pretenses, with NO ACTIVE JAIL TIME.

Grand Larceny, Burglary, and Conspiracy (Burglary) - REDUCED CHARGES 
A local well-respected college student was arrested for three felony charges after being named by a co-accused in a break-in of a dorm room. He was charged, as was his co-accused, with Grand Larceny, Burglary, and Conspiracy (Burglary), facing a total of fifty years in prison if convicted of all charges. His co-defendant was offered and accepted a plea deal of Trespassing and Petty Larceny, with a total of 24 months of suspended jail time. The prosecutor on our case ate first steadfastly refused to offer the same plea deal, instead offering that he plead guilty to Petty Larceny and Burglary, with a sentencing cap of one year in jail. If we had proceeded on this agreement, our client was looking at up to twenty-one years of suspended prison time hanging over his head, in addition to a felony conviction, and a conviction for a crime of moral turpitude. After advising the prosecutor that our client had information on additional suspects that were purposefully not identified by his original co-defendant, we met with the prosecutor and the lead detective, where our client fully cooperated and provided this additional information to the investigator. Even with this level of cooperation, the prosecutor refused to amend her offer, and we went into circuit court on the aforementioned plea. During the plea hearing, we requested that the judge defer entering a finding of guilty on the two charges based upon our client's complete cooperation and the ongoing investigation into pursuing the leads offered by our client. The judge denied that request and found our client guilty of both charges and set the sentencing date pending completion of the pre-sentence report. During that timeframe, the two additional suspects named by our client were apprehended and plead guilty to Trespassing and Destruction of Property and were each sentenced to 18 months of suspended jail time. Upon hearing this news, we contacted the prosecutor once again to initiate intense negotiations to reduce his charges based upon the new developments in the case. After receiving an outstanding presentence report, we proceeded to the sentencing date, prior to which we presented to the court a noteworthy sentencing package, including our client's academic and personal achievements, character letters and family photographs. Prior to the sentencing proceeding, the judge summoned us, our client and the prosecutor into his chambers, where the prosecutor advised him that, based upon our lengthy negotiations and our client's cooperation, she was recommending that his charges be reduced to one count of misdemeanor Trespassing. Once in open court, the judge granted our motion to VACATE the prior felony and misdemeanor convictions, and found our client guilty of the REDUCED charge of Trespassing, with 12 months of suspended jail time. Through our hard work and devotion, as well as our client's honesty and character, we were able to save him from a felony conviction and a conviction of a crime of moral turpitude.

False Application for Welfare - REDUCED CHARGES 
Our client was indicted for knowingly making a false application for welfare which resulted in a loss of thousands of dollars to Virginia, a crime that carries with it a potential prison sentence of one to ten years. After negotiations with the prosecuting attorney, we were able to secure an agreement in which our client would make payments totaling the amount in dispute, and in exchange, the Commonwealth agreed to REDUCE her charge to misdemeanor obstruction of justice, and NO JAIL was sentenced. Not only were we able to assist our client in avoiding a felony conviction, but also we were successful in negotiating the lesser charge to not be one of "moral turpitude", which would have had a far worse effect on our client's future than will misdemeanor obstruction.

Corporate Embezzlement - NOT CHARGED 
An employee of a large company was fired amidst accusations that he embezzled more than $50,000 from the company. Potentially facing up to twenty years of confinement, a felony conviction, and restitution in excess of $50,000 upon conviction of an embezzlement charge, he retained the law firm of McCormack & McCormack. We were able to negotiate a settlement with the company wherein our client was NOT CHARGED.

We were retained by a local college student with an immaculate background and a very promising future after she was caught shoplifting from an area department store. At the trial in Virginia Beach District Court, we presented documentation and evidence of her background, her lack of a criminal history, her enrollment and grades at college, as well as testimony from her father, a high-ranking military officer. Despite all of this evidence, including the loss-prevention officer from the store's concurrence with a dismissal of the charge, the judge found our client guilty, which we immediately appealed. Prior to her appeal date, we contacted the prosecutor and provided all of the same documentation as well as letters from a counselor and a completion certificate from a shoplifting intervention course. Based upon all of this, we were able to convince the prosecutor to agree to REDUCING the petty larceny charge to trespassing, which will have much less of an impact on our client's future as it is not a crime of "moral turpitude."

Our client was charged, along with several codefendants, with robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery in Virginia Beach. The charges stemmed from an incident when a group of people she was with entered a hotel room, assaulted a person, and stole items. A robbery charge in Virginia carries a maximum possible sentence of life in prison. Through working closely with the prosecutor and investigating detective on the case, we were able to use our client's level of cooperativeness to ultimately have both of her charges DISMISSED.

A young woman retained our firm after being charged in Norfolk with six felonies involving credit card fraud and forgery for allegedly using her roommate's credit card to make unauthorized purchases exceeding $200. Our client admitted to her actions in a statement to the police, and the facts were heavily against her in the case. Through negotiations with the prosecutor, we were able to resolve the case where five of the felonies were NOLLE PROSSED, and the remaining felony was REDUCED to a misdemeanor, with NO ACTIVE JAIL TIME.

An Old Dominion University Student retained us after he was charged with misdemeanor destruction of property for allegedly punching and breaking a front door at a house near campus in front of a police officer. The officer testified at trial that he saw our client get into a verbal altercation with the occupants of the home, and once they went inside the house he approached the house. The officer testified that our client approached the front door and strike the door, whereupon he heard glass breaking. He then testified that he approached the door and observed that the glass was broken. At trial we made a motion to strike the evidence as insufficient, because the officer could not testify that the door was not broken prior to this incident. The judge GRANTED our motion, and DISMISSED the charge.

Our client was charged along with co-defendants, with several felonies, including breaking and entering, grand larceny, conspiracy, and larceny of a firearm. After thoroughly presenting our case and issues to the prosecutor, the prosecutor agreed to NOLLE PROSSE all charges.

Felony Credit Card Theft - Charges Dismissed - Preliminary Hearing

Attorney Robert Canoy represented a 30-year-old charged with felony credit theft and felony credit card fraud. In preparation to defend the case, Attorney Canoy instructed the client to complete several specified preparation tasks, including multiple behavior modification courses, before the case reached a preliminary hearing. The client fully complied and despite having a prior criminal record, Attorney Canoy was able to secure a dismissal of all felony charges after the preliminary hearing.