How do I prove theft without police involvement?

My sympathy is to you for your loss.

I really don't think you are going to be able to do anything on your own due to the fact it will be a he said/she said ordeal. If these people are low enough to steal from your father like that, they need to be dealt with. I would contact the police dept (in person) and tell them what you told us. Take the copy of the cashed check (and you may want to contact the bank as well to prevent any other losses since they have the checking account number). You may even want to open a new checking account and have you and your father on it. Let the bank know that no one except you or him will be allowed to cash a check.

Regardless that they are family and aren't working does not excuse them for their actions. It will be a hard thing to do but do it for your father. $800 is a lot of money and I am sure he can use every penny of it.

Good luck.

Proving Theft

yeah, not sure exactly what sort of answer you are looking for. gather the evidence you can and confront the people about it. say you know they did it and that you plan on filing a civil lawsuit against them for conversion, theft, and fraud. since its 800 dollars, i dont think its enough to be hiring lawyers, knowing how much they cost, so maybe go to your local small claims court and see how to file a lawsuit. look up the statutes and laws in your local community for at least those three (conversion, theft, and fraud), there may be others. i mean, are you wanting to sue? or not? sometimes the threat of a lawsuit is enough. and yeah, find out who the mysterious person is and see if you can get them to say who gave them the check/money. try having a tape recorder on you at the time, i dont think you need to tell them they are being taped, unless its over the phone...dont know for sure, id look into that, it iwll be in your local laws somewhere. otherwise, if the people are being a pain in the butt, tell the cops...although civil cases are easier to prove than criminal and you can seek money damages rather than jail time.

and ive noticed some good advice on here too, contact the bank and discuss this issue with them. they cashed a check with a fradulent signature on it, thats not your fault! they may have to go after these people. and yeah, look around your local community for free legal advice, some places will give it. and yeah, if you do sue civily, it will probably look better if you had filed a police report for evidence that you did all that was in your power. it might look bad if the fact that you didnt file one is brought out in court, which it will be.

I think seeking legal advice is your best bet here. It may sound expensive, but maybe there are places that offer free legal advice where you live. The reason I suggest this is so you can cover your ***. You want to make sure if you confront someone about this, they don't come back to you with some kind of law suit saying that you are dirtying their name or something stupid like that.

You should also talk to the bank and tell them why this cheque was cashed if it wasn't a proper signature. The bank will get your money back and then seek them out. You may have to chase after the bank a bit, but you should be able to get things settled.

If someone has stolen $800 - and you will deal with it without law -enforcement involvement, and it won't be pretty -- sounds like you are about to do something that could get YOU in trouble. I suggest reporting this and letting the law-enforcement and court systems handle it. You won't make things any better for anyone, if you get yourself put into jail on top of the other family concerns.

The only successful way to deal with this situation will involve the police. If this person, relative or not, has done something this despicable, he or she deserves to be prosecuted. If you take action on your own without filing a police report, you may end up in jail yourself.

Don't take the law in your own hands ...what they did is illegal and they need to be brought to police atention. You should also let your father know. Unless you have something to hide yourself. Why would you want to protect this person? They will only do it again for a larger amount and if you keep your silence ,,,, they know they can get away with it.

I would contact your father/mothers bank and tell them that the check that was cashed was falsly made out. Explain to them the situation, they can tell you what account it was depositied in and who the account belongs to, this might be proof enough for you to determine who took the money. It will def. look suspisious if the checks cashed are very much out of order, for example, they might have paid the bills with checks 10,11,and 12 and if the check cashed is like 43.. thats suspisious because what happened to the checks inbetween... def. go to the bank and talk to someone, they should be able to either stop the payment so that the money gets deducted from the account, or suspend the account, etc. they have procedures to deal with things of this nature. Good Luck

Yes. You can be arrested and held for up to 48 hrs without any charges being filed. You would then be arraigned and that is where they'd determine if there is sufficient evidence to continue to hold you or not.

Gather as much evidence as possible then seek legal advice, maybe for an out of court settlement.