Shoplifting, Larceny, Robbery, Theft Charged for Petty Theft and Larceny

[Seekinghelp555]

Hello everyone
I have a question.
About a month ago both my parents were charged with petty theft. My father had changed a price tag on some meat in a super market and was caught after he had payed for it. He did not steal anything. The thing is, my father had done the price tag changing and my mother didn't know anything about it, yet they both were charged with the same crime. The sum that the damage was done for was $37 dollars. They were arrested and taken to jail for the night. They were allowed to leave the next day with promise to show up to court. We hired an attorney and our court date was today. Now though, apparently the store security and supervisor has decided to put larceny and petty theft on both my parents. My father plead guilty and this is the first time that ANYTHING like this has ever happened. He just thought that the meat they got was the same as the one that cost less and decided to change the tag for it. He just made a huge and stupid mistake and now they are being blamed for "planned burglary" and blamed on BOTH my parents even though one of them didn't even know what was happening.

Now, when they were arrested that night, they don't speak English, and had difficulty understanding what was happening. The security of the super market had being very VERY rude towards them, he had spent over 2 hours writing the report on them and asking people on how to write it while laughing and making a whole scene of how proud he was to have caught "criminals". He was calling over his friends to show my parents too, was talking in Spanish to people who had absolutely no place to be there and laughing at my parents and also taking pictures of them. When my sister and I hurried to the store to find out what had happened because their phone was taken away from them by the security, he told us they don't need translators they can learn English in jail. I understand that my father was wrong, but to threat them like that is just not right when they were not showing any sort resistance not to mention they are not young people, they are in their late and mid 50's.

They had received a second court date for the 11th of March. My question is what kind of consequence can this all have? Is there any right to them putting two more reports on them that had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with what my father did. They have absolutely no video tapes of what had happened and yet they said that my mother was apparently helping my father to change the tag and that all this was a planned burglary and that they were both changing price tags and "hiding the evidence" in the store. This is all not true, I am not saying that to protect my parents, but it really isn't. How far can all this go to? Can this end up as far as jail?

Please, I ask in advance, no rude comments, my family is on a roller coaster right now, our emotional states are unbearable, I ask people who may know anything about this, because all our attorney says is let me work and don't worry about it. Any information will be very appreciated. Thank you

 

[army judge]

If your parents have no prior record, this will be bargained to a lesser charge before trial.
You mentioned your father has taken responsibility for this incident.
Eventually, your mother will not be charged.
Or, if she is convicted, it will be of a very minor offense.
But, I advise you most of all to let your attorney work this case.
These things take time, and all the things you mention are of little or no import.

 

[mightymoose]

Yes, your father DID steal. He did so by changing the tags. It probably wasn't the first time either, just the first time he got caught.

As for the treatment of your parents by the security guard- they could have walked away at any time. The security guard has no authority to hold them in custody, that is what the police are for. It sounds like they sat through all of this until the police finally came later.

It is very likely that the charge will be reduced to a petty theft misdemeanor against your father, and nothing against your mother. There must be evidence that she knowingly went along with the price switch and had some active part in it for a charge to stick. As for the felony burglary charge, they will have to prove that your father had the intent to steal at the time he entered the store, and that will be very difficult to prove. As you described, he likely got the idea to do it at some point while in the store, and that makes it petty theft.

 

[Seekinghelp555]

Yes, your father DID steal. He did so by changing the tags. It probably wasn't the first time either, just the first time he got caught.

As for the treatment of your parents by the security guard- they could have walked away at any time. The security guard has no authority to hold them in custody, that is what the police are for. It sounds like they sat through all of this until the police finally came later.

It is very likely that the charge will be reduced to a petty theft misdemeanor against your father, and nothing against your mother. There must be evidence that she knowingly went along with the price switch are had some active part in it for a charge to stick. As for the felony burglary charge, they will have to prove that your father had the intent to steal at the time he entered the store, and that will be very difficult to prove. As you described, he likely got the idea to do it at some point while in the store, and that makes it petty theft.

Thank you! Yes they sat over four hours and had their phone taken away by the security guard. At first my father was only called aside after they had payed for everything and left the store to go to their car and my mother was told to leave. Then the security man took both my parents to the back of the store and held them their for over fours hours until he called TWO police cars to take them to jail. Before the police came, my sister and I came to the store because we started to worry that so much time passed and they weren't home, and I managed to call my dad before his phone got taken away and he told me they were being held. When we got there we were not allowed to even speak to them or even look at them, not to mention he kept yelling at them not to speak to each other. Even the police officers were annoyed by the man's behavior.

And this was really the first time the price tag change happened and he got caught.

Thank you for answering.

 

[mightymoose]

Your parents could have walked away at any time.

If for some reason they reasonably felt that they could not leave then they may be able to counter with a false imprisonment claim against the security guard.

That gets a bit tricky though, and it is already a month later. It is something to look in to though if interested.

In the future they should just keep moving unless a law enforcement officer orders them to stop. The store security shouldn't have done anything more than obtain their names (if possible), descriptions, and their vehicle information. The police would have done the rest. Being held for four hours BEFORE calling police is extremely unreasonable, and the store MAY have some liability for that.