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Typical in all embezzlement cases is a basic denial that anyone will notice the missing money. This is true in both public and private sector embezzlement cases.

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And the belief that no one will notice if you skimmed a little cash off the top is quickly reinforced. No one does notice! Sometimes for a long time.

If you work as a public employee, especially a small governmental job, for a city, town, county, or a small federal department, there may not be regular oversight and auditing of the accounting. The smaller the governmental organization or department, the less frequent and stringent the financial oversight is likely to be.

But here’s the thing: the record are public. And eventually, if you keep it up, if you keep taking money over a sustained period of months and years, someone is going to finally notice. And when they do, it’s going to be a big problem.

The Trap of Not Getting Caught (Initially) of Embezzlement

Common in all embezzlement cases, for public organisations or private companies is that, in almost every case, the person gets away with it. At least for a while, and sometimes for a long while. And that’s the trap of complacency.

The cycle of taking money when it seems easy can be like an addiction, where you can rationalize away the behaivor.

It’s easy to convince yourself of all kinds of justifications for embezzlement:

1. It doesn’t matter. This town/city/department has plenty of money.
2. It’s such a small amount. No one will notice or miss it. And no one has missed it.
3. I kind of deserve it anyway.  Because I didn’t get a raise, or have to put up with X.

So even if you meant for it to be a one time thing, when it seems easy, and no one even notices, you can get caught up in repeat incidents. Whether you just appreciate the extra money in your account, or you get in another financial jam, and it just looks like an easy way out.

Penalties for Public Employee Embezzlement

Repeat incidences of taking money from a public sector job almost always get found out. Eventually, even it if takes years.

And, prosecutors can be extra tough in these cases. Judges, too. When it comes to stealing money from the public trust, no one wants to cut you a break, and give you a good deal on a plea if you plead guilty to public embezzlement.

Some states even have embezzlement penalty enhancements for public sector jobs, just because that trust that we put in our government to be responsible with our tax dollars is so critical.

And you can bet that any significant theft of public funds is going to make a big splash in the local media. Government corruption stories make a lot of headlines.

And extra publicity means the prosecution is more motivated to crack down hard on public embezzlement cases.

Defense of Public Embezzlement Charges

While all these factors can make fighting an embezzlement case tougher, the still can be defending in court. To beat an embezzlement case at trial, you’ve got to have a very sympathetic story as to what happened, so the jury can understand, and find a reason to accept your situation.

Or you need an extremely plausible alternate explanation about how it wasn’t you that took the funds. This is always hard, because when these cases come to court, there is almost always an extensive paper trail of how the money went missing, and ended up in your personal account, or benefiting you personally.

But every case does have defense options. Even if those options are just arguing for leniency due to the circumstances.