There's a lot of schemes going on where individuals are working with inside people in gas stations to steal gas.  It could be truck drivers who are getting huge amounts of gas at a discounted rate or even paying nothing for the particular gas.

The prosecutors, the sheriffs and the police are definitely prosecuting these cases, and obviously you put yourself in a bad position because if you're taking gas at a large rate where it's over $950.00 you could be charged with a felony.

Now you're looking at not being able to vote, having a felony conviction on your record and all the things that go along with that that you don't want to have.

Negotiation to Reduce Charge to a Misdemeanor

So, you want to be able to defend it where they can't prove that you're stealing gas, or if you can't defend it because they've got you on videotape because a lot of those gas stations do have cameras.

You're going to want to get a defense attorney who can give your side of the story and let the prosecutors know the good things about you — if you have a good job, if you have a family and hopefully you have no prior criminal record and then you can put yourself in a position to work a misdemeanor instead of a felony.  Either getting a misdemeanor outright or earning a misdemeanor.

I do a lot of these theft cases where people have stolen gas and they're otherwise good people, family men who simply made a stupid mistake and now they have to hire an attorney.

You need to  that attorney work for you and try to do everything they can to put together what we call a mitigation package in these stealing gas cases in Los Angeles to be able to show the prosecutor that you obviously have some good redeeming qualities.

Also. that you shouldn't be put in a position where you lose your ability to make a living and hopefully earning that misdemeanor puts you in a much stronger position as it relates to your life and your freedom.

Avoiding Jail Time

That's another issue when it comes to these cases where they're indicating that you're stealing gas.  You want to make sure that you don't end up going into county jail, especially now with the Coronavirus.

So, in addition to making sure that you protect your criminal record, you also want to protect your liberty because in today's political community in the county jail, you're looking at being segregated depending on how old you are, your health condition.

Obviously, you don't want to be put in a location where you're going to end up with people who have the Coronavirus, and obviously, the normal concerns would be that there's also dangerous people in the population that you'll have to deal with.

So, the bottom line is, if you've been arrested, charged for stealing gas based on one of these schemes where there's an inside person in the gas station who's allowing you to do it, obviously that person is going to be prosecuted, but you will be prosecuted as well.

Pick up the phone.  Make the call.  Ask to meet with me, Ron Hedding.  I've been doing this for 26 years all over LA county.  I can put a plan together to help you.

Hedding Law Firm is a criminal defense law firm located in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County at 16000 Ventura Blvd #1208 Encino, CA 91436. We also have an office located at 633 West Fifth Street Los Angeles, CA 90071. Contact us for a free case evaluation at (213) 542-0979.