Your child has been arrested for petty theft. You've hired a good defense attorney. Now you want as much information about the charges as you can find. You might think that there would only be one type of petty theft but you'd be wrong. There are actually four different types of petty theft. Take a look at a brief description of each type.

Theft by False Pretense

Theft by false pretense happens when someone uses lies to obtain property that isn't theirs. For instance, you have a stolen credit card and you want to purchase something from a local pawn shop. You know that they usually ask for identification unless they know the person who's making the purchase. You go in for several days to look at merchandise. When you finally go in to use the stolen credit card, the shop keeper knows you and doesn't ask for identification. This would be theft by false pretenses.

Theft by Larceny

This is the most common type of petty theft. Theft by larceny occurs when you take something knowing that it's not yours. There are several conditions that must exist for larceny to apply. Those are:

• The property belonged to someone else
• You didn't have the owner's consent to take the property
• You had no intention of returning the property or paying for it
• You removed the property from where the owner had it

Theft by Trick

Like theft by false pretense, theft by trick begins with a lie. The difference between the two is that with theft by trick, the property owner doesn't expect to give you ownership of the property. An example of this would be if you told a friend that you'd hold property for them, knowing that they wanted you to give it back. However, instead of returning the property, you tell them that you've lost it so you can keep it. You've tricked your friend into giving you something that they didn't intend to give away.

Theft by Embezzlement

Theft by embezzlement occurs when you take something that wasn't yours and transfer it into your ownership. Embezzlement often happens in the workplace. For instance, you work for a local retailer. Your job is to take the money to the bank each night. However, for several weeks you've been taking a portion of the money and falsifying the deposit slip so the numbers looked right. That's theft by embezzlement.

If your child has been arrested and charged with petty theft, you need to make sure they have legal representation from a firm like Rutter and Sleeth Law Offices. The information provided above will help you understand the different types of petty theft charges that your child may be facing.