Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

My grandfather appointed me and my wife as his powers of attorney. We wrote checks signing his name, made ATM withdrawals, and he allowed us to have some money too in the form of cash. Since he is 97, his memory is not very good and forgot a lot of the things that we did. His bank called him and asked him to come in. They told him that they believed there was fraud being conducted. On their advice, he went to the police and filed a police report saying that the checks and ATM withdrawals were not authorized. The police have begun questioning me and my wife. When I talked to my grandfather, he said that he was confused about what the bank said and that he knows and approved what we did, even signing his name for him as he told us to do several times. Now he wants to have the police stop investigating the matter and he wants it dropped. If he tells the police that he does not wish charges to be pursued since he gave consent for us to do this, will the police listen to him when he says he does not want anyone charged?


Asked on 9/07/11, 10:14 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Brian Michaels Law Office of Brian Michaels

Very very unlikely. You would be very well served by immediately stop talking to the bank or to law enforcement. Once an elder abuse case is set in motion it is very hard to put the brakes on and the last thing you want to do is talk to anyone other than through a lawyer. The banks are not your friends and neither are the police. Maybe they believe you and maybe you did nothing wrong, but with a 97 year old who already called police you need to be very very proactive in your defense before it gets out of hand and there is a warrant that gets issued. Feel free to reach out to us anytime.

Brian Michaels

www.socalcrimdefense.com

3109919179

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Answered on 9/14/11, 7:31 pm


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