Today I got caught in JCPenny for shoplifting for $29.99 cloth. Earlier today I made 3 transactions on different floor .. in the first transaction i asked for one of the item which was lying near the cash register and it was on sale for $15. That time i didn't buy that time .. i picked it up though thinking I will buy later if I don't find any thing better than that. The cashier thought i stole that time and he informed the LP guys .. and since I was still there in the store .. they started watching me ... Later i picked couple of more cloths on different floor for choosing which one to buy and returned every thing to the cashier during my last checkout.. somehow this one thing slipped into my bag .. and when i was walking out of the store the LPs took me to the back room. They asked me to show the receipts and items and told me that I didn't pay for one of the item. I couldn't believe it first but told them its not something intentional and i offered to pay them. But it seems it was too late.
They started documenting every thing .. took pictures of the cloth,myself and my DL. They asked me to fill 2 form .. one was some sort of statement that I stole $29.99 cloth from them. Initially I refused to sign that waiver since I wasn't sure of the consequences ... then they called the cop .. the cop was a young guy and he asked me to sign the waiver and i can go .. otherwise i will have to go the jail.
I asked him about this waiver thing, and he told me that its something JCPenny will send some letter in the mail for the fine. Once I pay the fine, there wouldn't be any criminal record what so ever. I even asked one of my cop neighbor, he also said same thing that since there is no ticket issued, so there wouldn't be any police record and i will have a choice to pay the fine to JCPenny or contest it in municipal court. I signed the waive and left the premise. The cop didn't give me any ticket or court date as such.
Now I read on some forums that JCPenny can charge for criminal & Civil cases. That really scares hell out of me since I work in a bank and I really can't afford any criminal record in my history. My question is what are the chances that JCPenny will press any criminal charge against me? I don't mind paying the fine whatever JCPenny sends me. . If I pay the fine after the first letter itself, will they still send me the court notice for the criminal charge?
I don't have any criminal record or any such thing ..
Please advice..
They started documenting every thing .. took pictures of the cloth,myself and my DL. They asked me to fill 2 form .. one was some sort of statement that I stole $29.99 cloth from them. Initially I refused to sign that waiver since I wasn't sure of the consequences ... then they called the cop .. the cop was a young guy and he asked me to sign the waiver and i can go .. otherwise i will have to go the jail.
I asked him about this waiver thing, and he told me that its something JCPenny will send some letter in the mail for the fine. Once I pay the fine, there wouldn't be any criminal record what so ever. I even asked one of my cop neighbor, he also said same thing that since there is no ticket issued, so there wouldn't be any police record and i will have a choice to pay the fine to JCPenny or contest it in municipal court. I signed the waive and left the premise. The cop didn't give me any ticket or court date as such.
Now I read on some forums that JCPenny can charge for criminal & Civil cases. That really scares hell out of me since I work in a bank and I really can't afford any criminal record in my history. My question is what are the chances that JCPenny will press any criminal charge against me? I don't mind paying the fine whatever JCPenny sends me. . If I pay the fine after the first letter itself, will they still send me the court notice for the criminal charge?
I don't have any criminal record or any such thing ..
Please advice..
