theft, extortion, fraud, embezzlement

In this chapter you have studied Theft and analogous offenses, including the crimes of theft, extortion, embezzlement, fraud, and forgery. Your assignment is to research an actual case of a theft or fraud offense and compare it with the Texas criminal law to determine what crime the alleged offender in your case should be charged with under Texas law.

You first need to find an actual case of a theft related offense that occurred outside of the state of Texas. Your best source of information may be a newspaper. You are encouraged to use one of the many online newspaper sources. You do not have to use a newspaper. You may use instead magazines, books, or other reputable sources. Make sure that there is good information in your news source of the details of how the theft offense was committed, who is suspected of committing the offense, where and when it was committed, who was victimized, and why the theft or fraud offense was committed.

Secondly, you need to research Texas criminal law regarding the types of theft or fraud offenses and the essential elements of each type. Your source has to be the official penal code of Texas. You can find the Texas Penal Code in print form or online. The online source for these offenses can be found at the following links: Texas Penal Code-Theft
(Links to an external site.)
Texas Penal Code-Fraud
(Links to an external site.)

In this assignment you will act as prosecutor and decide how to charge the alleged perpetrator in the actual crime case that you selected. In doing this, you will need to consider and answer the following questions: Based on the crime that you researched, how would you charge the perpetrator? Which type of property offense should this defendant be charged with? Why would you charge the defendant with this type of property offense? What specific elements in your crime dictate how the defendant should be charged?

Your answer to this Writing Assignment needs to be written in WORD with a Times New Roman 12 point font size, one-inch margins, and should be between 2 and 4 pages in length. See grading rubric in the syllabus for details.

In order to receive full credit, your answer has to include all of the following:

A brief narrative of the crime committed. Explain what happened, who was victimized, who is alleged to have committed the property offense, where, when, how, and why the property crime was committed. Make sure that this crime was committed some place other than Texas.
Your analysis should include a summary of the originating State statutes and penal code offense(s)
An explanation of how you would charge the perpetrator of this theft or fraud offense if this crime had been committed in Texas and if you were the prosecutor with authority to charge this crime. Identify which type of property offense you would charge this defendant. You will need to explain your decision, making sure to tie the circumstances of your crime with the essential elements of the type of theft or fraud offense that you are charging the defendant. As part of your explanation, explain how serious a crime this charge is under Texas law (what category of misdemeanor or felony).
Citation of your sources. APA citations are required