needquickhelp
New Member
Hi,
Tonight my friend and I were caught stealing from a popular California retail store, I know we're stupid, but I have some questions.
We're both 18 years old and have had completely clean records prior to tonight. We tried to run but stopped after about 20 feet, since apparently the manager got a cop who happened to be nearby involved. The worker grabbed my friend's purse out of her hands and started to go through it, but the worker next to me asked for mine and I handed it over. I also bought about $25 worth of things, but stole less than $50. I didn't take the tags off my items because at other stores the beepers don't go off if the soft tags are attached, usually. My friend ripped the tags off her merchandise before putting it in her purse, but the employees found the price tags on the floor of the store and brought them back.
We didn't admit to anything at all and made up a quick lie about the items being gifts from a friend who stole it and we happened to still have them in our purses (stupider I know), but the manager kept on telling us how stupid and idiotic we are, made fun of my friend who was crying, and finally forced us sign a form saying we got caught for shoplifting and we can't go into any of that store or its associated stores for 3 years or we'll face trespassing charges.
They took us into the back office (the cop and manager) and took down our local addresses, permanent addresses (we are college students and live in the residence halls so we only had our college ID's), social security numbers, dates of birth, heights/weights/physical descriptions etc., phone numbers, and I think that's it.
The manager said we'll get a letter in the mail sometime soon telling us to pay back the store for what we stole. Pretty much everything we tried to take was on sale, so it totaled less than $100 between the two of us. The cop gave us citations and kept threatening to arrest us, but wound up just writing the tickets. He did, though, keep on clicking and un-clicking his handcuffs in our faces. I'm sorry for all the unnecessary details but this happened just 2 hours ago and I'm still very freaked out, so here are my main questions:
1) The Civil Demand Customer Notice says that "these damages take into consideration the value of the merchandise, whether or not it has been damaged or rendered non-saleable, the costs of security, and any other restitution permitted by law." How much do you think they'll make me pay? The full price of the items, or just the sale price? I didn't rip any tags off so they're still "saleable". What are these other restitutions permitted by law?
2) I am currently employed, but not in retail. Will they tell my employer what happened?
3) They're just giving us a misdemeanor. Do misdemeanors eventually come off your record? And is this the kind of crime we need to tell potential employers about, or do only felonies need to be disclosed?
4) How will they know if we go back into any of those stores, not just the one we stole from? The manager made a snide remark that they have "facial recognition technology" but I don't think that's true. This store had no security cameras at all. All they have is our heights, weights, eye colors, and hair colors. I paid with my debit card so they have that info, and if for some stupid reason I do go back into one, I obviously can't use a card with my name on it to pay.
5) We got a citation that says we have the choice of either paying the fines, or contesting it. Do we have to go to court if we just suck it up and pay whatever legal fines they slap on us? And, what happens if we contest it, what's the procedure for that?
6) What do you think they'll make us pay for the citation? (Not just the thing from the store's lawyers themselves, the one from the police.)
7) Are they going to tell our parents? They got our home addresses even though they said they would mail the the store's fine letter to our local (college) one. I think home/permanent addresses were just recorded for the sake of background information.
8) My friend doesn't have any money right now and is not employed, and she can't tell her parents. Does the county court system or whatever it's called have some sort of debt pay-off plan?
9) Did I have the option of just paying for it right there? I had the money on me to do so, and I didn't rip the tags off or anything, but it might have seemed like a really obvious admission of guilt.
10) What's going to happen when we go to court? Is it going to be like a real trial or can we just pay it and quietly get out of there?
I know people who have gotten caught shoplifting from that store in the past, and one of them only had to pay for right then and there what she tried to steal (but didn't get to keep the items), and she wasn't allowed to go back to that specific store for a month, that's it. Is that what usually happens, or did we get slammed hard for some reason? Personally I think we just had really bad luck with a cop being nearby, we didn't know. And yes I know we're stupid, I have learned my lesson.
Also, one last question: is this worth contesting? If we contest does that mean we have to get a lawyer, and would we have to pay the county fines first anyway?
Thank you very much. Your help means a lot to me.
Tonight my friend and I were caught stealing from a popular California retail store, I know we're stupid, but I have some questions.
We're both 18 years old and have had completely clean records prior to tonight. We tried to run but stopped after about 20 feet, since apparently the manager got a cop who happened to be nearby involved. The worker grabbed my friend's purse out of her hands and started to go through it, but the worker next to me asked for mine and I handed it over. I also bought about $25 worth of things, but stole less than $50. I didn't take the tags off my items because at other stores the beepers don't go off if the soft tags are attached, usually. My friend ripped the tags off her merchandise before putting it in her purse, but the employees found the price tags on the floor of the store and brought them back.
We didn't admit to anything at all and made up a quick lie about the items being gifts from a friend who stole it and we happened to still have them in our purses (stupider I know), but the manager kept on telling us how stupid and idiotic we are, made fun of my friend who was crying, and finally forced us sign a form saying we got caught for shoplifting and we can't go into any of that store or its associated stores for 3 years or we'll face trespassing charges.
They took us into the back office (the cop and manager) and took down our local addresses, permanent addresses (we are college students and live in the residence halls so we only had our college ID's), social security numbers, dates of birth, heights/weights/physical descriptions etc., phone numbers, and I think that's it.
The manager said we'll get a letter in the mail sometime soon telling us to pay back the store for what we stole. Pretty much everything we tried to take was on sale, so it totaled less than $100 between the two of us. The cop gave us citations and kept threatening to arrest us, but wound up just writing the tickets. He did, though, keep on clicking and un-clicking his handcuffs in our faces. I'm sorry for all the unnecessary details but this happened just 2 hours ago and I'm still very freaked out, so here are my main questions:
1) The Civil Demand Customer Notice says that "these damages take into consideration the value of the merchandise, whether or not it has been damaged or rendered non-saleable, the costs of security, and any other restitution permitted by law." How much do you think they'll make me pay? The full price of the items, or just the sale price? I didn't rip any tags off so they're still "saleable". What are these other restitutions permitted by law?
2) I am currently employed, but not in retail. Will they tell my employer what happened?
3) They're just giving us a misdemeanor. Do misdemeanors eventually come off your record? And is this the kind of crime we need to tell potential employers about, or do only felonies need to be disclosed?
4) How will they know if we go back into any of those stores, not just the one we stole from? The manager made a snide remark that they have "facial recognition technology" but I don't think that's true. This store had no security cameras at all. All they have is our heights, weights, eye colors, and hair colors. I paid with my debit card so they have that info, and if for some stupid reason I do go back into one, I obviously can't use a card with my name on it to pay.
5) We got a citation that says we have the choice of either paying the fines, or contesting it. Do we have to go to court if we just suck it up and pay whatever legal fines they slap on us? And, what happens if we contest it, what's the procedure for that?
6) What do you think they'll make us pay for the citation? (Not just the thing from the store's lawyers themselves, the one from the police.)
7) Are they going to tell our parents? They got our home addresses even though they said they would mail the the store's fine letter to our local (college) one. I think home/permanent addresses were just recorded for the sake of background information.
8) My friend doesn't have any money right now and is not employed, and she can't tell her parents. Does the county court system or whatever it's called have some sort of debt pay-off plan?
9) Did I have the option of just paying for it right there? I had the money on me to do so, and I didn't rip the tags off or anything, but it might have seemed like a really obvious admission of guilt.
10) What's going to happen when we go to court? Is it going to be like a real trial or can we just pay it and quietly get out of there?
I know people who have gotten caught shoplifting from that store in the past, and one of them only had to pay for right then and there what she tried to steal (but didn't get to keep the items), and she wasn't allowed to go back to that specific store for a month, that's it. Is that what usually happens, or did we get slammed hard for some reason? Personally I think we just had really bad luck with a cop being nearby, we didn't know. And yes I know we're stupid, I have learned my lesson.
Also, one last question: is this worth contesting? If we contest does that mean we have to get a lawyer, and would we have to pay the county fines first anyway?
Thank you very much. Your help means a lot to me.
