Commonwealth v. R.R. – Woburn District Court

LARCENY CHARGE AGAINST CANTON MAN FOR STEALING $35,000 FROM HIS EMPLOYER ARE DISMISSED AT TRIAL, AS ATTORNEY PATRICK J. NOONAN ARGUED THAT THE COMMONWEALTH COULD NOT PROVE WHO HAD STOLEN THE MONEY

Defendant worked for a business in Stoughton. It was alleged that the Defendant took manual checks issued to fictitious employees and physically deposited those checks into a bank account. It was further alleged that the Defendant took checks issued to fictitious employees and electronically deposited them into a bank account. The Commonwealth intended to call the Regional Director of the business who discovered the fraudulent transactions and conducted his own investigation which, in his opinion, concluded that the Defendant had stolen the funds. The Regional Director’s investigation claimed that the Defendant had stolen approximately $35,000 from the employer. Defendant was alleged to have stolen $20,000 from a past employer but he was found not guilty of those charges. The Defendant had 24 entries on his criminal record.

Result: At trial, Attorney Patrick J. Noonan was prepared to argue that the Commonwealth could not prove its case because they failed to subpoena the bank records where the stolen checks had been deposited into. Without the bank records, the Commonwealth could not prove whose bank account the stolen funds were sent – or if the stolen funds were deposited into the Defendant’s bank account. The Commonwealth did not obtain any surveillance video from the bank showing the person who was depositing the checks. Moreover, the employer did not produce any video footage of the Defendant taking the stolen the checks and leaving the store with them. The District Attorney’s Office was prepared to request another trial date, so they could subpoena the bank records. However, Attorney Noonan brokered a deal where the Commonwealth would dismiss the charge upon his client’s payment of $10,000 in restitution. The client paid the restitution and the charge was dismissed.