Legal Question in Criminal Law in Louisiana

Re: Theft

Dear LawGuru Friend,

Sorry about the problem your daughter has! You ask, "What can she do...?" She should promptly pay the money back that somebody lost because of the unauthorized use of the credit card; as, obviously, the owner of the credit card is saying his daughter did not have authority to authorize anyone else to use the card, even if his daughter may have been authorized to use it. I can understand why your daughter may have relied on what her room-mate told her; but her room-mate gave her bad advice. It is a no win situation. As fast as possible you and/or her father should step in and offer to pay what the credit card holder or the credit card company and/or the merchants where the credit card was used have lost. This is not a matter to mess around with arguing over who did the right thing and who did the wrong thing. Your daughter should "buy" herself out of this situation as quickly as possible, even if it takes mother's and/or daddy's making her a "loan" to do so. Under no circumstances should your daughter allow some prosecutor or attorney to "con" her into pleading guilty to intentional unauthorized use of a credit card. As far as she was concerned, based on what you report, your daughter felt she was "authorized" to use the card. There is more to it all than this, but this is something to consider. Good luck to you and to your daughter!

Sincerely,

Hardy Parkerson, Atty.

Lake Charles, LA