Legal Question in Criminal Law in Illinois

Bounced Check

I am a physician who employed a billing service. Two months ago, this billing service, as per usual, collected my monies from the insurance companies, deposited my monies in their checking account, then wrote me a check for my monies out of their checking account. This check, for $4700, bounced twice due to insufficient funds. Since then, they refuse to respond to emails, phone calls, or letters from my lawyer. They actually very recently sent me all of the insurance papers that they had been withholding from me, which basically shows that they not only bounced the $4700 check, but in the meantime, they have also collected an additional $10,000 of my monies that they have not forwarded to me and are seemingly in possession of.

I contacted my State's Attorney's office and local police department, both of which say that no crime has been committed, this is a civil manner.

My obvious question is that my lawyer seems to feel that the billing service committed a crime. I believe he referred to it as a crime of conversion or embezzlement. So, am I the victim of a crime, and therefore should my State's Attorney be prosecuting on my behalf, or is this something which I am going to have to handle on my own in civil court.


Asked on 12/14/07, 1:37 am

4 Answers from Attorneys
Joseph Michelotti Michelotti & Associates, Ltd.

Re: Bounced Check

Your going to have to handle this on your own, if the state's attorney does not want to. Cook County has a bounced check program you might want to look into.

check out my website - www.michelottilaw.com

email me if you have any questions - joe @michelottilaw.com

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Answered on 12/16/07, 10:37 am
Michael R. Nack Michael R. Nack, Attorney at Law

Re: Bounced Check

You can certainly proceed against the billing company in civil court no matter what else happens, and it would seem logical that you do so. In regards to criminal prosecution, the state's attorney has discretion regarding the filing of charges. Perhaps you did not have sufficient proof to show that a crime was committed. Still it seems that the company must have known that the money was not in the bank when it wrote the $4700 check, and this would be a crime. You may consider contacting the U.S. Attorney's office in the federal district in which this happened. Perhaps they would be more interested in looking into criminal prosecution. Good luck.

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Answered on 12/15/07, 12:30 pm
Kelly Bennett Bennett Law Offices

Re: Bounced Check

I agree that a crime has been committed. A criminal proceeding usually does not allow you to recovery proceeds however. You should 1) sue the collection agency in civil court to recover your funds; and 2) contact the SA's office again and insist on prosecution.

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Answered on 12/14/07, 10:52 am
George Zuganelis Zuganelis & Zuganelis, Attorneys at Law, P.C.

Re: Bounced Check

A crime has been committed. Its the crime of theft. Conversion is the civil term for theft, and the term "embezzelment" isn't used in Illinois anymore. This comes under the general heading of theft. Rarely will a judge order restitution in the amount of $14,700.00, in a criminal case because he knows the defendant will not be able to pay that off in the time he's on probation. Sue the person, and sell their assets to satisfy the judgment.

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Answered on 12/14/07, 3:22 pm


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