My Nephew is in even more trouble now!

Old 01-03-2009, 09:41 AM
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My Nephew is in even more trouble now!

My Nephew is still in the juvinile correctional facility and my brother is still thinking of taking him in when he gets out.

Well yesterday investigators came to my sister's (Nephew's mom) place of employment, questioniong her about some checks that had recently been written out lf an old cub scout account that she was once treasurer of. The checks had been made out in Nephews name with my sisters signature.

So it is believed that my Nephew has written these checks and forged my sisters name. So he will now have a felony charge against him.

Question - what do the courts do with minors that have been charged with a felony? Will it stay on his record forever? He is 16.
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Old 01-03-2009, 10:06 AM
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Hi toomutch, Wow i'm sorry to hear that. I don't know what to tell you. Has he been in trouble or convicted of anything before this? IMO I would think since he is 16 and IF he hasn't been convicted of anything prior to this then with a good attorney they might be able to get the charges reduced to hopefully a misdemenor. Then he probably will have probation, fines, and maybe some type of classes to attend, counseling or something.

Most likely he won't get off scott-free. If he has had prior issues then its possible they will stick with the fraud charges. He will most likely have an arraignment and a pre-trial court date.

Hopefully he will have a good attorney that will enter some sort of plea bargain.
Thats about all I can offer you at this time since I am not an attorney. My other concern is your sister..... she might get some kind of rap too because she was responsible for those checks.

Its too bad kids start thier young life with stuff like this, but hopefully he will fear this enough.

Take Care
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Old 01-03-2009, 10:11 AM
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Thanks for responding Suemarie. My nephew has been in trouble before and his probation officer has given up on him and he will not be assigned another. He steels for drugs, among other things.
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Old 01-03-2009, 10:12 AM
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Worst case he will have to go to Juvie until he turns 18. That is basically prison, but no one over 18. The good news is it will not stay on his record forever, but he'll have to get a GED instead of a HS diploma.

Hang in there, and hope for the best.
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Old 01-03-2009, 10:15 AM
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(((((TooMutch)))))

Your starting to obsess again over something you have no control over. Please take some real deep slow breathes, at least ten. Now do it again. Slow your mind down and your pulse.

If he is in Colorado as you are, and if as an adult he straightens out his act the "Juvenile Record" will be sealed. What that means is if a criminal back ground check is done for employment purposes it will not show up, however, if he continues to get into trouble as an adult the police will have access to it.

This is part of HIS CONSEQUENCES for HIS ACTIONS. Please ask HP to watch over him and your sister.

On the brighter side, all this 'stuff' (screw ups and crime) coming up now while he is still fairly young, may be the BEST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN TO HIM, he has been caught early and it could just be the WAKE UP CALL this young man needs.

J M H O

Love and hugs,
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Old 01-03-2009, 11:24 AM
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Your Welcome

My youngest son along with some pals got into trouble ( stole a vehicle) Had fraud charges brought on them. He was 16 too. We hired an attorney and entered a plea bargain. We went to court and the judge ordered to pay restitution, fines, and 1 yr. probation. We had to take him every month to the prob officer. Since he did everything that was required and didn't get into any more trouble, the prob officer let him off about 4 months earlier. Because our attorney talked with the judge and Prosecuting atty. this was the deal they made. He was told that his record would be expunged unless if in the future he got into trouble again. Then It will come back on him.

This was enough to scare him from any more trouble. He is now 23 yrs. old and is a great hard working kid.

I hope things work out for your Nephew and I hope this scares him to get clean!
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Old 01-03-2009, 12:42 PM
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Thanks for the responses, my thank you button is still not working.
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Old 01-03-2009, 02:11 PM
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Your nephews records can be sealed. It will cost money. He could be in juvy for not any longer then the age of 21. If they charge him as an adult he could go to prison. He is looking at some good time no matter what. He is VOP is another strike against him. If he does have a drug problem, he should look into getting help.

I feel for the mother, she is going to be responsible for the money. I would not take in the nephew after he gets out. If the courts have given up on him that is bad.

My son was charged with battery with a deadly weapon. He got 2 years probation and had to take drug classes and anger management classes it took 1 year for the trail and he spent his senior year going to court.

It cost me over 5000.00 just for the classes. We were lucky and he had people in his court that said that was not him if he was not drunk that he would never of done that.

He is now 21 and is working and living on his own. If you take in your nephew make sure that you know what you are getting yourself into. It is not easy and you have to believe that he can change and is willing to change his life.
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Old 01-03-2009, 03:11 PM
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My sister cannot afford an attorney as she is an alcoholic and has her own problems, which have left her in debt. Without an attorney I just don't know whats going to happen to him.
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Old 01-03-2009, 06:52 PM
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He will have an attorney, may be a Public Defender, but he will have an attorney, whether he is tried as a juvenile or an adult.

What happens to him, is out of your hands, and your sister's hands.

You can continue to stress and worry over him and his situation and there will be an outcome. You can turn your focus on your own children and family and guess what? The outcome is going to be the same.

Take some more slow deep breathes. Do this everytime you start to worry about this, it does help, honest.

Love and hugs,
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Old 01-04-2009, 08:19 AM
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Thank you Laurie - Taking deep breaths now...
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Old 01-04-2009, 10:02 AM
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I'm sorry you are feeling worried and confused, Toomutch. I agree with Laurie - deep breathes...This is out of your hands. It's funny how perspective can change things. When I read your post (and believe me, i truly unbderstand that it is easy for me to think this way since I am not emotionally involved) I thought that your nephew's Hp must have something in mind for him. Perhaps he just is not yet ready to leave the protected environment and there are still lessons to learn.
Hugs to you and lots of prayers for your sister and nephew.
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Old 01-05-2009, 02:01 AM
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My understanding has been that the juvenile charges are always seeled once they are 18.
I remember being concerned about stuff like this when I my AD was arrested for the first time too. Now, I realize that's the least of her worries. She needs to survive her addiction. the longest she ever held a job was a few months and that job was 'exotic dancer' where they don't check weather or not you have a record.

If he's not an addict, he will grow up and stop getting into trouble and this will all be put behind him. If he is an addict, he has a life-long life and death battle in front of him.

Maybe his arrest will allow him to get treament and maybe that will be the best thing that could happen.
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Old 01-05-2009, 06:25 AM
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Every state is different. In my state first offenders can get charges similar to nolo - they're charged but if they comply with probation then it completely comes off their records. most other charges are sealed automatically for minors except for drug charges - however the county gives them the ability to have those taken off their record as well if they stay out of trouble. If they get out of the control of the county level then they are transferred to the State then those are harder to have sealed because at that point they feel that the kid is pretty much going to be a repeat offender. At 17 they treat minors as adults and if they are serving time in youth detention when they turn 17, then depending upon their crimes and their record they may send them to adult detention.

In my state, youth do have a public defender but it is very different then if you get your own attorney - its more of a guardian ad litem. I'm in the legal field and was a bit taken back when i sat in my son's first hearing - I kept waiting for the attorney to object to things and it never happened. So I researched their role and found that the public defender is in a different position then a regular attorney - their goal is not to just get the kid off but to help get what is in the best interest of the child. So if the child needs to be in custody so that they can get substance abuse help then that is what the public defender is going to go for. In my AS case this was the best thing for him so I never brought in my own attorney.

I dont know if my son's charges will be purged in the future but its his problem not mine. He doesnt care why should I? He did the crime - he suffers the consequences - it has nothing to do with me. Trying to defend him and get his record cleared only tells him that I dont think what he did was bad and he'll expect that forever. But if you want to know you can talk to the public defender and they will explain your states laws to you.
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