My friend brought $7000.00 to school that she was supposed to put in the bank when she got off from practice. (We already established that it was unwise to keep it at the school even for one day) As you've probably already guessed, it was stolen.

The Dean of the school told her to not call the police (which I disagree with) and eventually when the threat of a police presence was heard the two young women responsible stepped forward and confessed. They were suspended for two days (take issue with this aswell) and are back in school now, and yet the money they stole has not been paid back to her. Before the girls were even considered to be allowed back into the school they, or their families, should have paid back every cent of that money, but its been weeks and she hasnt gotten a penny.

What can be done to get her money back?

She files a report with police (which IS what you do regarding the crime of theft if you want anything done to the thieves), and asks the prosecuting attorney to include restitution (requiring them to pay back the money) as part of the sentence. Alternatively, the victim could sue the thieves in civil court, and then spend many many years trying to collect on any judgement won. If restitution is ordered as part of a sentence in a criminal case, the vicitm has more powerful avenues with which to get them to pay (such as the potential for the thieves to serve jail time for contempt of court).

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While pointers can be helpful, ultimately the number one lesson in any legal action is: don't take legal advice from books, family, friends, co-workers, police officers, grocery clerks, web sites, or people on legal message boards. The only person who can give YOU legal advice is YOUR attorney.

http://www.aardvarc.org

I agree with aardvarc. Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html and http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/index.html. You can certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.