FEMALE FROM VA

I opened an account on 5/11/07 through Wachovia for a small business that I was starting up and new at the time that it would have been a shortly owned business. With doing this I was going to be a sub-contractor for another business called Aapco of Richmond. I hired my children's father Carl to work for me because I would have rarley been on the job site and in-trusted him to do right by me. With that being said I opened an account that he had axcess to and made it very clear that the checks were to be deposited into the account. Then I would have wrote him a check out of it for the income that he would have earned. Constantly he kept telling me that Aapco had no work. Two months into the whole ordeal I found out that Carl was acturally working, getting the checks and instead of depositing them, he was just cashing them. This made it impossible to keep up with what I had gotton paid, even though I was not the one who acturally got paid, the checks were in my name so that made me responsible for the income. I immeadetlly closed the account on 7/11/07 through wachovia to stop him from having access to cashing my checks. And at this time I had no idea of how many checks were written and how much money. I called Aapco and asked for that information and was constantly jerked around. I was told on nurmous occasions that they would call back and they never did. I felt like my hands were tied. I assumed he made a couple thousand dollars and figured that it would be no big deal. Boy was I mistaken.
In the begenning of the year I got a 1099-misc form and acturally droped to my knees. Almost $ 23,000.00... so much for not a lot of work hua. I immeaditally called Aapco in questin. They pretty much refused to help me or ancwer any of my questins. I wanted to know how many checks, and how long he had been cashing them They had also mentioned something about an escrow account so I also requested information on that. They would not give me anything. I had one lady tell me... "I don’t have time to do all of that"! On 2/27/08 I certified mailed with receipt for all of that information asking them to please respond within 15 days. On April 7 2008 I finally got a feed back but only check numbers and the amounts of the checks... all 22 checks! Oh it did have the dates of the check in there to. I had also asked in my certified letter that I have a copy of a cancled check frount and back to prove that I did not sign it and that would have shown where Carl cashed the checks at. On April 9 2008 I called the Aapco office again and asked lauri (the bookeeper) if she would just verbally tell me where the checks were cashed at. She said that she could do that but that she would have to call there Norfolk office because that's who handles all of their bank statements. She never called back. I called the commonwealth attorneys office of Lunenburg, that's where my business resides at and they told me that it would probably not fall into this jurisdiction because even though the business was in this county the crime was committed in another county. I tried to make a police report in Victoria for forgery and fragently cashing the checks but they said that Aapco was in Chesterfield county that I needed to contact them. So I called Chesterfield County and the officer said that I needed to prove where the checks were cashed and that would be the county that I would have to file in. I contacted Wachovia and asked them could they find out where the checks were cashed and because none of them went through my account they can’t tell me anything an another account. They said I would have to suppena them through court. But by doing that I have to have proof that Carl was the one forging my name and cashing them. By Aapco not giving me the proof of the checks I don’t know of any other way to procute Carl. I have called Aprox. 20 Lawyers offices and none of them handle this kind of case they keep telling me that I need to file through a police station and that the Commonwealth attorney would pick up the case most likely but that still leaves me nowhere. I can't prove where the checks were cash at. I can’t file my taxes because if I do I will be committing fraud by saying that I earned the money and I did’nt. But if I don’t file I will be stuck with all of the pentilies from the IRS for not getting my taxes turned in by April 15th. I am in school and have 4 children and I am a single mom. I feel like I am living in a life time movie. Is what he did to me considered the perfect crime? The last check that he cashed was 9-10-07 two months after the account was closed. And so far there is nothing that I can do!~

Hello Stephanie:

There's plenty you can do, if you don't mind ruffling a few feathers, and you don't give up easily.

So, the Canadian police DO like to eat doughnuts instead of helping people, just like OUR cops do. I knew it!

You must first understand that a crime was committed, and that it's the cops job to investigate. I believe a crime was committed in ALL the county's. So, instead of going SIDEWAYS between the counties, go UP the chain of command. Do not stop until they help you.

It wouldn't hurt if you notified the local papers and TV stations.

excon

I can't tell if you're venting or asking a question - unless the question is, "Is this the perfect crime."

Just so I understand this all the checks were payable to you; "Carl" picked them up for you; he forged your name and cashed the checks. Now the 1099 indicates that you got the income because the checks were payable to you.

How were you handling the various employment taxes - IRS, State, workers comp, State Sales Tax, disability? If you were running this as a cash, off the books business, you have a lot more problems than you think you have.

Each Police Department has handed you off to another and the company which wrote the checks payable to you won't provide you with any information.

I'm sure an accountant is going to pick up here and possibly correct me - but I own a business. I get a 1099. I pay my employees. I then write W-2's or 1099's for the people who work for me (depending on their status). So write a 1099 in your business name to him.

You are probably going to have to file a business return anyway and this is just part of it.

Hello again, Stephanie:

You're not going to get a different answer just because you changed the title. Please stay on the same thread.

My advice is the same whether you live in Canada or Virginia.

excon

First you need to file an extension on your tax return. This is relatively easy to do. That will give you at least 3 months.

Next, you need to go to the police and explain that you have been robbed. You will need to prove that you had an agreement with the company you subcontracted for. Hopefully the police will investigate and deciode to prosecute. If they don't, then you need to sue your ex and subpoena the company's records to prove he cashed the check meant for you.

If the company does not provide the cancelled checks to you as proof that you were paid, then you might have to take them to court for proof that you were paid. That would require them showing your signature on the cashed checks.

Keep calling the company that issued the checks. They might want to provide the cancelled check copies so that they won't be sued. They have the numbers of those checks, and it would not take much for them to issue copies of those original checks. You might have to offer to pay for copies, but it is there obligation to prove that you were paid. Otherwise, they could end up looking like they paid the wrong person.

Note: Threads merged, please don't post the same question multiple times.