Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Colorado

Hi, I need help and advice to find out if I can bring a civil lawsuit (not small claims) against someone who recently stole money from me. I live in Colorado.

Brief Background: (Hopefully I can avoid any judgment as to why I made the decision I clearly regret and just stick to the crime that was committed, thanks).

One of my good friends from childhood lost his high-paying job last year. At the same time, his fianc�e and him were going through a custody battle. My father had just died and I came into a small lump of life insurance money. I saved most of it, and decided to use about $3,000 to help him find a new apartment and furnish his daughters� bedroom. He paid me back $500 of it a few months later and still owed me the $2,500. (this is not what I am writing about.)

We haven�t talked much since last summer; I graduated and have been working a lot at my first �real� job. About a month ago, he texted me and asked me to help him. He was trying to sell airline miles (he had tons, he used to travel for work) so he could pay his rent. He wanted to use my Paypal account so he could get the money immediately (I am an amateur eBay seller and have an eBay debit card so I can immediately pull out funds, which he knew). I told him I wasn�t interested, and he agreed that he would use $500 of the money to start paying me back for the $2,500 he still owes me. I told him I would help him only if he signed a Promissory Note for the remaining $2,000, which he did.

The mileage broker in Texas that he had met deposited $2,300 into my Paypal account, and pulled out the $1,800 and gave it to my friend. One week later, the broker emailed me and asked for all of his money back. He said that my friend had logged in to the account and changed the password and then sold the miles again to someone else.

The broker and I spoke on the phone for hours and he understood what had happened, but he said he still had to file a �claim� against me on Paypal. Paypal found the �claim� in his favor and set my account to -$2,300. Now I�m being called by Paypal�s collections daily.

(There are a lot more details, like his parents calling me and telling me he has gone AWOL, has been robbing places and is now on drugs, which I didn�t know. He was actually arrested a week after this all happened for armed robbery, and he is out on bail. But I don�t believe that has anything to do with my question here � it�s just the reason why it happened. Obviously I made a stupid decision, but now I need to research what my options are.)

I filed a Police Report where I live, and spoke to a Detective a few times last week. He empathized, but he just did NOT grasp how and what Paypal was. He was confused as to why Paypal debited me. He said he asked the DA several times if there was any theft involved, and the DA told him no, stating that I �entered into a business agreement that went sour.� I explained that I felt I was bribed (by the offer of him paying me back) as well as stolen from by a �bad-faith� promise.

Obviously, there is a lot of emotion here, being this is a close friend and I went from finally being on top of bills to flat-broke and having collections calling me, so it is hard for me to type this. I am looking for any friendly advice I can get.

My priorities are not to punish my friend. I would like him out of my life � indefinitely, as quickly as possible. My priority is to get my money back. The reason I do NOT want to go to small claims court is because I would like to seek a small amount of punitive damages. I have been completely distraught, been having trouble sleeping, and missed a few days of work because I was beating myself up for letting this happen and dealing with the shock that he has become a criminal and drug addict.

Is it unreasonable for me to ask for those types of damages? (I don�t want to feel like I am one of those typical people abusing that request).

Can punitive damages be requested in Small Claims Court? (I heard not)

And my BIGGEST priority � if possible � is that I do not want to represent myself. - I do not want to see my friend or his family. I babysat his nephews, was best friends with his mother and sister throughout high school, and cannot bear the thought of going into a small claims court alone (my friends and family are busy and I wouldn�t want them to come deal with all of this mess) while they all stood there.

Because I do not want to represent myself in Small Claims, I want to go to sue him civilly so that I can have a lawyer on court on my behalf (or at least speaking for me while I am present). From my research, I have found it may be possible to sue him for Theft, Fraud, Bribery and Emotional Distress.

So internet world, am I way out of my league here? Is there a way to recoup my funds? Or was the DA right?

Thanks so much, I really appreciate your time.

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