Criminal Charges for Embezzlement in Florida: Why the Dollar Amount Decides Almost Everything

Florida has no separate crime called “embezzlement.” When someone is accused of taking money or property they were trusted to handle — a bookkeeper, a store manager, a property manager, a business partner — the charge is theft under Section 812.014, Florida Statutes, and the seriousness is graded almost entirely by the dollar amount involved. Below $750, it is misdemeanor petit theft. At $750 or more, it becomes grand theft — a felony. At $20,000 it becomes a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years, and at $100,000 a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years. And if the money belonged to the federal government or a bank, or the scheme ran through electronic transfers, the same conduct can instead be charged federally, where the penalties run differently.

This article explains:

• Why Florida prosecutes embezzlement as theft, and what that changes
• The full penalty ladder, from misdemeanor to first-degree felony
• Why a long series of small takings is usually charged as one large theft
• When embezzlement becomes a federal case
• The consequences beyond the sentence, and the defenses that actually matter

This article provides general legal information and is not a substitute for advice based on the specific facts of a case.

Why Florida charges embezzlement as theft

Embezzlement, in the traditional sense, is theft by someone who had lawful access first: the money passed through the accused’s hands legitimately — as an employee, agent, trustee, or partner — and the accusation is that at some point it was diverted. Florida’s legislature folded that old category directly into the modern theft statute. Under Section 812.012, Florida Statutes, “obtains or uses” covers any manner of “taking or exercising control over property” or “making any unauthorized use, disposition, or transfer of property” — and the definition expressly includes “conduct previously known as stealing; larceny; purloining; abstracting; embezzlement; misapplication; misappropriation; conversion; or obtaining money or property by false pretenses, fraud, or deception.” When the accusation is a broader course of deception — false pretenses, misrepresentations, an ongoing scheme — Florida has a separate felony route with no misdemeanor tier: organized fraud under § 817.034, covered in Criminal Charges for Fraud in Florida.

Two practical consequences follow:

• The charging document will not say “embezzlement.” It will say petit theft or grand theft, cite § 812.014, and state a value range. People searching their own court records for an “embezzlement charge” are often looking at a grand theft count.
• The State does not have to prove a break-in, a taking by force, or even a taking without permission to access the money. The fact that the accused was supposed to have their hands on the funds is not a defense by itself. What matters is whether the use of the money was authorized — and whether the accused intended to deprive the owner of it.

The penalty ladder: what the dollar amount means

Theft under § 812.014 is graded by the value of the property involved, with maximum penalties set by § 775.082 and § 775.083:

Value involved	Charge	Maximum penalty
Under $100	Petit theft (2nd-degree misdemeanor)	60 days in jail, $500 fine
$100 – $749	Petit theft (1st-degree misdemeanor)	1 year in jail, $1,000 fine
$750 – $19,999	Grand theft (3rd-degree felony)	5 years in prison, $5,000 fine
$20,000 – $99,999	Grand theft (2nd-degree felony)	15 years in prison, $10,000 fine
$100,000 or more	Grand theft (1st-degree felony)	30 years in prison, $10,000 fine

A few notes on how the ladder actually operates:

• The $750 line is the felony line. In an employment setting, that threshold is crossed quickly — a single diverted vendor payment can be enough.
• Prior theft convictions raise misdemeanor theft. A petit theft with one prior theft conviction is charged as a first-degree misdemeanor, and with two or more priors it becomes a third-degree felony under § 812.014(3). We cover how Florida’s misdemeanor system works — and when misdemeanors become felonies — in Misdemeanor Criminal Charges in Florida.
• Certain property types are felonies regardless of value, including firearms, motor vehicles, and wills — though those categories appear less often in embezzlement fact patterns than plain dollar amounts do.

Why small amounts become big charges: aggregation

Most embezzlement allegations do not involve one dramatic transfer. They involve a pattern — a few hundred dollars at a time, over months or years, surfacing later in an audit. Florida law is built for exactly that pattern. Under § 812.012(10)(c), “[a]mounts of value of separate properties involved in thefts committed pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct, whether the thefts are from the same person or from several persons, may be aggregated in determining the grade of the offense.”

The arithmetic matters. Someone accused of diverting $500 every two weeks for two years is not facing 52 petit theft counts — the State can charge one grand theft of $26,000, a second-degree felony carrying up to 15 years. Whether the alleged takings truly form “one scheme or course of conduct,” and whether the State’s total is actually supported by the records, are both real battlegrounds in these cases.

What the State must prove

Stripped to its elements, theft under § 812.014(1) requires the State to prove that the accused knowingly obtained or used the property of another with intent to deprive the owner of it, or to appropriate it to their own use or the use of someone not entitled to it.

In embezzlement fact patterns, the fight is almost always about intent, because access was lawful and rarely disputed:

• Authorization. Was the accused permitted — by the owner, by practice, by an agreement — to use the funds the way they did? Informal businesses, family companies, and partnerships generate exactly this kind of ambiguity: draws, advances, reimbursements, and loans that were never documented.
• Intent versus error. Sloppy bookkeeping, commingled accounts, and misapplied payments are not theft unless the State can prove criminal intent behind them. An accounting discrepancy is the beginning of the State’s case, not the end of it.
• Valuation. Because the charge’s degree rides on the dollar figure, the State’s loss calculation deserves scrutiny — what the records actually show, what was legitimately owed to the accused, and what belongs in the “scheme” at all.

None of this means these cases are easy — a well-documented paper trail is powerful evidence. It means the elements are where the defense starts.

When embezzlement becomes a federal case

The same conduct Florida would charge as grand theft can become a federal prosecution when it touches money or institutions the federal government protects. Unlike Florida, federal law does keep “embezzlement” as a named offense — Chapter 31 of Title 18 is titled “Embezzlement and Theft” — and the statutes that appear most often include:

Federal statute	Conduct covered	Maximum penalty
18 U.S.C. § 641	Embezzling or converting federal government money, property, or records	10 years (1 year if $1,000 or less)
18 U.S.C. § 656	Theft, embezzlement, or misapplication by a bank officer or employee	30 years, $1,000,000 fine (1 year if $1,000 or less)
18 U.S.C. § 1343	Wire fraud — schemes to defraud using electronic communications	20 years (30 years and $1,000,000 if a financial institution is affected)

Wire fraud deserves particular attention: because modern embezzlement allegations almost always involve electronic transfers, payroll systems, or online banking, federal prosecutors can often frame the same course of conduct as a scheme to defraud executed by wire. Federal white-collar cases also routinely carry conspiracy counts when more than one person is alleged to have participated — how conspiracy works in both systems, and why the federal version is so powerful for prosecutors, is covered in Criminal Conspiracy Charges in Florida. The same federal toolkit applies when a scheme uses someone else’s identity — see Identity Theft Criminal Charges in Florida.

Which courthouse the case lands in changes the prosecutor, the bail rules, and the sentencing framework. We compare the two systems side by side in What Are Federal Criminal Charges — and How Are They Different From State Charges in Florida?

Consequences beyond the sentence

• Restitution is the rule, not the exception. Under § 775.089, the court “shall order” restitution for the victim’s loss unless it finds clear and compelling reasons not to. In an embezzlement case, the restitution figure can follow the accused long after the sentence itself is over.
• Civil exposure. Apart from the criminal case, Florida law gives theft victims civil remedies, and employers frequently pursue them alongside or instead of prosecution.
• A theft record is a “dishonesty” record. Employers, landlords, and licensing boards treat theft offenses differently from most other charges — it is the category background checks are designed to surface. For professionals with licenses, the collateral consequences can outlast the court case.
• The record depends on the outcome. Whether an arrest or charge can ever be sealed or expunged depends on how the case resolves and on the accused’s history — we walk through Florida’s sealing and expungement framework in If Charges Are Dismissed, Do You Have a Criminal Record?

How long does the State have to file charges?

Florida gives theft cases their own limitation period. Under § 812.035(10), a criminal action for theft may be commenced “at any time within 5 years after the cause of action accrues” — with the clock paused while the accused is continuously out of the state or has no reasonably ascertainable home or work address in Florida, though that pause cannot extend the period by more than one year. Because embezzlement schemes are often discovered in audits long after the fact, timing questions are worth raising early in these cases.

The bottom line

An embezzlement accusation in Florida is a theft charge, and the two numbers that shape it most are the State’s loss figure and the calendar: the dollar amount sets the degree of the felony, aggregation can turn years of small transactions into a single 15- or 30-year-maximum count, and the choice between state and federal prosecution changes every rule in the case. These are document cases — they are investigated, and often charged, before the accused ever hears about them. If you have been contacted about missing funds, terminated over an audit, or charged with grand theft arising from your work, the time to involve a defense attorney is before you give a statement, not after. MK Law’s partners are trial attorneys who defend theft and white-collar cases in both Florida and federal courts — contact us or call 954.865.6032.

Frequently asked questions

Is embezzlement a felony in Florida?

It depends on the amount. Florida charges embezzlement as theft, and theft of $750 or more is grand theft — a felony. Below $750 it is misdemeanor petit theft, though prior theft convictions can raise the charge. Because amounts taken as part of one scheme can be added together, embezzlement allegations that span months or years are usually charged as felonies.

What happens if you pay the money back?

Repaying money is not a legal defense to theft — the offense, if proven, was complete when the funds were taken with the required intent. That said, restitution is a central feature of how these cases actually resolve, and how and when repayment happens can affect negotiations with the State. No particular outcome is ever guaranteed; this is a decision to make with a defense attorney, not unilaterally, and never as an implicit admission before charges are even filed.

Is embezzlement a state or federal crime?

It can be either. Most workplace embezzlement allegations in Florida are prosecuted in state court as grand theft. The case can become federal when the money belongs to the federal government, when the accused worked for a bank or federally insured institution, or when prosecutors frame the scheme as wire fraud based on electronic transfers. The two systems differ on bail, sentencing, and much more — see our comparison of federal and state charges.

How long after money goes missing can someone be charged?

Generally five years. Florida’s theft statutes carry their own five-year limitation period under § 812.035(10), and the clock can be paused — by up to one additional year — while the accused is out of the state or cannot be located. Embezzlement cases are often built from audits and records well before an arrest, so it is common for charges to arrive months or years after the alleged conduct.

Can years of small transactions really be charged as one big theft?

Yes. Florida law expressly allows the State to aggregate the value of separate takings “committed pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct” into a single count, graded by the total. Whether the transactions genuinely form one scheme — and whether the State’s total is accurate — are both places a defense can push back.

Can an embezzlement charge be sealed or expunged?

Sometimes, depending on how the case ends and on the person’s record. A dismissed or dropped charge may be eligible for expungement, and some resolutions short of an adjudication of guilt can leave sealing available. Eligibility rules are technical and outcome-dependent — we explain the framework here, and an attorney can assess a specific case.