White Collar Crime

Ex-Orlando Magic point guard Darrell Armstrong was arrested in California Tuesday on an outstanding warrant stemming from an alleged unpaid $37,500 debt at a Las Vegas Strip casino.

The 43-year-old current Dallas Mavericks assistant coach is accused of writing a worthless check and theft deriving from casino markers or IOUs last June at a Vegas hotel and casino.

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Armstrong is wanted by the Clark County district attorney’s office for his alleged involvement in the case.

Armstrong was apparently stopped Tuesday around 8 p.m. for an alleged traffic violation. He was arrested and transported to the sheriff’s Marina del Rey station.

He was released Wednesday afternoon after posting $40,000 bond set by authorities in Nevada.

He joined the Mavericks for the team’s Wednesday game against the Lakers, taking his usual seat one row behind the bench.

Florida Statutes define the crime of passing off a worthless check as writing a check with reasonable knowledge that the account it was written from has insufficient funds or has been closed. The State of Florida considers a bad check charge a “crime of dishonesty” which could affect your employment status even after your case is resolved. A worthless check offense is classified as a first degree misdemeanor if the check is written for an amount less than $150 and carries a potential jail sentence of up to one year and fines of no more than $1,000. If a single worthless check happens to add up to more than $150 or multiple bad checks written total more than $150, the crime is elevated to a third degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

There are multiple reasons a check may be dishonored by the bank. Should a banking institution stamp a check with any of the following memos, a person can be prosecuted under the Worthless Check Statute:

• Non-Sufficient Funds
• Insufficient Funds
• Account Closed
• No Such Account
• Account Not Found
• Uncollected Funds
• Refer to Maker
Unfortunately, simply settling your debt pertaining to a dishonored check, draft, bill of exchange or a debit card order is not a viable defense for the charge and does not mean your case will be dismissed. However, if the check amount is paid immediately the State Attorney’s Office may choose to not continue with prosecution. Even if a case has already been opened, a Florida Criminal Defense Attorney may be able to persuade prosecutors to drop the charges in exchange for a payment of restitution.

The victim of a worthless check may choose to take civil action against you for passing off a bad check. In fact, the victim may seek damages for up to three times the amount of the check. In addition, you may be subject to attorney fees, court costs and bank fees should you be found guilty.

Federal authorities arrested and charged a 35-year-old Jacksonville, Florida man for allegedly hacking into more than 50 celebrities e-mail accounts, as well as breaking into Hollywood starlet Scarlett Johansson’s phone and leaking nude pictures of her to the Internet.

He was charged on Wednesday morning with 26 counts of accessing protected computers without authorization, identity theft, damaging protected computers without authorization, and wiretapping.

Other victims included Christina Aguilera, Mila Kunis, Simone Harouche and Renee Olstead.
His arrest was part of a crackdown on hackers who target celebrities called Operation Hackerazzi.

According to the FBI, the man used publicly available data about the celebrities to supposedly hack into their e-mail accounts. He allegedly set a secret forwarding address so that all incoming e-mails would be sent to an account he controlled.

The man is accused of hacking into Johansson’s Yahoo account in December 2010. He supposedly broke into Harouche and Augilera’s accounts at Apple’s Me.com email service a month earlier.

Nude photos of Johansson and intimate portraits of Kunis and Justin Timberlake supposedly appeared online in early September. The man is accused of offering the photos to celebrity-focused blogs. It is unknown if the man tried to sell the pictures.

The U.S. District Attorney’s office in Los Angeles wants the man transferred to L.A. for trial.

This man faces a maximum prison sentence of 121 years. Cybercrime charges like hacking and identity theft require the knowledge of technical computer skills as well as aggressive legal defense skills. Cybercrime charges should be taken very seriously as prosecutors often try and push for maximum penalties. Many charges related to hacking are made in federal court, so it is important to be vigilant in your defense.

E-mail hacking has become quite popular over the last few years because many people receive, send and store personal and private information through their e-mail accounts. According to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, the Internet Crime Complaint Center Web site received 336,655 complaint submissions in 2009 regarding cybercrimes, a 22.3 percent increase compared to 2008 reports. It is important to understand that both state and federal laws govern computer hacking. Hacking crimes entail gaining unauthorized access to private information in order to commit Internet-related crimes such as credit or debit card fraud, identity theft, phishing, vandalism, intellectual property theft and other forms of cybercrime.

As always, early intervention is crucial in obtaining positive results. Different from crimes committed in person, online activity like Internet fraud can be viewed and tracked by other users including police. Computer and Internet crime consequences can include jail, state or federal prison, restitution, fines, probation and even potential loss of employment. The Florida White Collar Criminal Defense Attorneys at Whittel & Melton are available around the clock for a free consultation, so contact us today.

Articles Posted in White Collar Crime

Florida Criminal Defense Attorneys Whittel & Melton :: Former Magic Fan Favorite Darrell Armstrong Arrested for Passing off Bad Check at Vegas Casino

Florida White Collar Criminal Defense Attorneys Whittel & Melton :: Jacksonville Man Arrested in Operation Hackerazzi for Allegedly Stealing Nude Photos of Hollywood Celebs