Making A False Police Report Of A Crime - Penal Code 148.5 PC
When it comes to the false report of a crime violation – this is also known as filing a false police report – these are serious allegations that, if proven, you'll have a criminal conviction on your record.
You could look at time in custody and other punishments and deterrent-related actions by the judge and the prosecutor. We don't want people filing false police reports. It messes with the integrity of criminal justice. The police, prosecutors, and judges will put a hammer on people who do this sort of thing.
From what I've seen, this can come about in a couple of ways. Well, there's a few. Number one, you could do it by going to the police and filing a false police report. You know what you're saying is
False. That's a potential defense in a case – if you don't know what you're saying is false and you believe it to be accurate, but it turns out to be untrue, you probably would have a defense to filing a false police report.
So, that's one way. You go and do it. You know it's false. You say something to the police department – LAPD, for example- and then violate California Penal Code Section 148.5.
Another way is if the police come to you and ask you some questions about a case, and you give them wrong information or false information. If somebody gets arrested, you'll probably be in trouble for filing a false police report.
This can occur in other situations that the Penal Code Section calls for—like when a grand jury is involved, and you're giving false information under other circumstances as well. But filing a false police report in Los Angeles County is mainly when people go to the police and say false things.
Insurance Fraud
Another area I've seen is when people file a false police report because they're trying to cover up another crime. For example, let's say that somebody commits insurance fraud and they have somebody steal their car to get the money from the insurance company.
Then they call the police to report their car stolen, and now the police do an investigation on the stolen vehicle. They figured out that the facts that were given were a lie and that the real reason the person did this was because they were trying to do some insurance scam.
I've seen this also where people set their cars on fire. There are all sorts of scenarios where this can come up. You'd be subject not only to filing a false police report under Penal Code Section 148.5 but also to insurance fraud and, if you set your car on fire, for arson. So, false reports are often filed – not even the main charge is in the criminal complaint.
It's just one of the charges that is in there. Sometimes, filing a false police report in LA is used as a throw-away charge to eliminate more severe charges.
In other words, if you had committed insurance fraud and were charged with arson for burning your car, you were charged with felony insurance fraud. You were also charged with filing a false police report as a misdemeanor; you'd much rather have the filing a false police report charge than any of those other charges because those other charges are much more severe and challenging to get rid of and much more likely to be punished with severe punishment.
Next Steps in Preparing Your Defense
So, if you've got a filing a false police report case charged in LA county, call me. We'll sit down and talk about the facts and circumstances that led to you going to the police or led the police to come to you. We also discuss whether any defenses can be employed based on the facts and circumstances surrounding the case.
If there is, we'll get the evidence together, we'll investigate it, and then we'll either take the case straight to a jury trial, or we'll go to the prosecutors and say, you're going to probably lose this case because we've got some good evidence here that shows that these individuals here didn't file a false police report. They should not be charged with this particular crime. To do that, we're going to have to have the evidence.
One defense is that I didn't know that this was false information. How can I know for sure, and again, whether that's a valid statement? It depends on the facts and circumstances surrounding the case. But bet your bottom dollar that if you reasonably should have known that the information that you provided to the police was false, then you're going to get charged with this crime and convicted.
You won't be able to hide behind—well, I didn't know for sure. If you tell them something ridiculous that you should know is not true, you'll be charged with the crime if they can prove that a reasonable person wouldn't have given this information unless they were trying to trick the police for some illegal purpose.
So, if you have one of these cases, could you call me? We'll sit down and go over it. We'll discuss what's realistic and reasonable and what we will do to get you out of the criminal justice system and deal with this filing a false police report charge under Penal Code Section 148.5.
