Can someone please advise me on the following

How long can you file charges aftter you have found out someone has your stolen property in the State of Maryland and what charges?

How long can you file charges or who do you notify in the State of Maryland if these stolen items were taken across state lines?

How long can you file charges after invascion of privavacy in State of Maryland. This person was originally charged with theft; it was nolle prosequi (not gone to trial) and in a different court stated in her court transcripipts, she has items. Most items are personally identifiable paperwork with disability paperwork for SSI, IRS, marriage license, notary statement, purse, but she returned my wallet. Also, where can I find attorney who will do this pro bono as my entire income is social security disability. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Private individuals don't bring criminal charges; prosecutors do. The process is that you file a police report on any criminal activity, and the prosecutor brings whatever charges they think fit the circumstances of the theft - which could be anything from petit theft, to larceny, to burglary. If the charge is determined to be a felony, there's no statute of limitations in Maryland. If a misdemeanor, most are 1 to 3 years, depending on the EXACT statute the prosecution charges under.

You file the report with the police agency who has jurisdiction over the location where the crime occurred. THEY will address the issues of the property itself being located out of state and will involve other law enforcement agencies at the state or federal level as needed.


Generally, you'd have 3 years for such a civil case. The issue however is this: even IF you win the case and the court orders the return of the items; if the person and the items are out of state, and they still don't return the items, the odds are VERY slim that the ensuing contempt of court charge would be followed up on by the state - in other words, the state isn't likely to pay to have the person with your property transported from out of state to bring such relatively minor charges against them. The unfortunate truth of MANY civil suits is that there is a HGUE difference between WINNING your case, and GETTING what you really want out of it. You can locate potential pro bono attorneys in your state's Bar Association website. But I suspect most of them will tell you that it'll be a hundred times faster and many thousands of dollars cheaper to try to get copies of the missing paperwork (almost everything you listed CAN be retrieved or duplicates obtained), than it will be to pursue it (and assuming it doesn't get shredded the moment the person holding the paperwork is notified of the lawsuit).

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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.

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I agree with aardvarc on this one. 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.