Misdemeanor theft charges

[JamesTodd]

I need some advice. My family and I were waiting to close on a home. We sold our home a week prior to closing on our new house so the owner of the new house said we could stay there until closing. Within a week of staying there the ceiling started leaking due the a/c drip pan rusting out( yes the a.c. was in the ceiling). We called the owner and he said everything was fine because he still had his insurance. Well before the a/c situation my wife convinced me to replace the current fridge and dishwasher with nice new ones. I placed the old ones in the garage. My wife expressed she would like to get rid of them since the dishwasher didn't work and the fridge was on its last leg but she didn't want to get stuck with the junky appliances. So on the day the insurance adjuster came to look at the leaking a/c, my wife sold the appliances for $75 to get them out of the garage. Ironically the insurance guy was to be paid $75 just for his visit that day. Well when I got home my wife and I argued because she sold the appliances. In the next couple of days we got a couple inches of rain and the basement flooded (to which we were lied to by the owner). This was the last straw considering we hadn't even close on this house yet. Plus the insurance guy said the whole a/c had to be replaced plus the heating system. Was hooked up illegally and all together would cost us $20,000 to replace. My wife and I decided not to close on a house that was going to cost us so much money to get ready for the upcoming winter (such short time). After expressing this to the owner of course he stated he would like us out of the house asap. Since we had nowhere to go we were forced to move to Florida where my family lives. I had to quit my job abruptly and leave state. A couple weeks go by and I get a phone call for a police officer.stating the owner filed misdemeanor theft charges on me for his his junky appliances (that my wife sold against my will). Unfortunately Florida didn't work out but gave us some time to find a rental here in Illinois. Upon arriving I was offered a Dialysis job and was just waiting to start. A couple days went by and corporate called to state my background did not pass due to a pending theft charge. So now I'm back in Illinois and can't get a job due to something I had nothing to do with. How is this going to affect me and if I plead not guilty because my wife is really the guilty one, will it affect me even worse? Obviously my career will be over if I can't have these charges dropped. What do i do? help please.

[ponymom]

Is your wife stepping up to the plate as far as the theft goes? Get after her, what a stupid move doing that prior to closing. That home owner probably filed charges because you called him out on the illegal hookup and he may have been cancelled by his insurance company. Looks like he was dirty, and now he's trying to get back at you.

n

Wife needs to make this right, if possible...

[JamesTodd]

Funny you say that because that was my idea as well. For her to go to the police station and tell them I was at work when she sold the appliance. I even had the idea to leave ours there because I felt something would come of it and she said hell no. She's worried she will go to jail. I told her we can't survive if I don't have a job. We are going to talk to my lawyer tomorrow to see if that idea will even work. I may have to prove my innocence first. Idk The owner had the idea of getting the insurance involved and they said they wouldn't do the whole replacement of the ac. So if they dropped him that's his fault. He's mad because he was suppose to sell this house to pay off his Vet loan so he could get another home in Alabama where he currently resides. I have written paperwork of his stating no known issues of flooding. You can't tell me it just flooded that one time since we've been there. That's BS

[ponymom]

Well good luck ...good that you have things in writing. Wifey needs to man-up, make her do it . It is her fault. You have a license to protect.

[Guest219794]

Get a lawyer.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

There's so much wrong with this situation that I don't know where to begin. So I will just advise this: go to the homeowner and BEG him to accept the new appliances in return for dropping the charges.

Quit blaming your wife because both of you made plenty of mistakes by getting all involved with the house (moving in) and its issues prior to ownership. Next time, go to a motel.