I regularly shop at a chain of thrift stores and was arrested for shoplifting. The problem is I was not intending to steal. My routine is to shop the shelves and pick up small electronic items that I research on my dataphone for potential resale. Once I have researched I either purchase or put the items back . In this case I purchased one item and had two that fell down in between the dog blanket and the back side of where my dog sits on in the cart. I was particlularly tired this day as I had spent all day shopping at their other stores and we have been having a heatwave the last week. The lP guy came out of the store and questioned me about what I had under the dog. I was surprised but realized at that moment I just forgot about the two items. They consisted of a broken digital camera missing a battery cover, 9.99, and a small power supply unit with a wireless network card rubberbanded together 19.99. I had looked them over while shopping the shelves and decided to put them back as they where junk but got distracted with the item that I did purchase and spaced them out. As a habit I try to put rejected items back where I found them.
During the interview process the lp guy asked how much money i was carrying. I questioned that and refussed to tell him but did hand him my pocket full of papers, reciepts and cash and told him he could count it. He did and I was surprissed how much I had in that mess of stuff. The lp seperated the two rubberbanded items and asked a store worker for a price of the item, network card, that had no tag on it. It came back with a 19.99 price. so now it became three items. I questioned that as the two items that where rubberbanded together only had one 19.99 price tag on it. After sitting around for two hours the lp guy tried to get me to sign forms basicly admitting what they alleged I did along with a trespasing notice and I refused on the basis that I disagreed with the charges saying it was willfull theft and that the list of items/value was incorrect due to the seperation and pricing of the network card. The police showed up and arrested me. The officer asked me for my cash to inventory and any other personal items i had and I complied. I had a satalite radio remote control in my pocket along with my phone charger, earset, leatherman, 3 sets of keys and a collection of junk I seem to always carry on my person. that he ask if the remote was the stores and I told him it was purchased at the chains outlet store earlier that day. It had their sticker on it with a two day old date and the LP guy said there was no way that could have made it to the outlet store that quickly and took the remote from me. I argued his point of how fast some items make to their outlet store but he did not want to believe me. The officer questioned the whole thing and decided not to get involved in discussion about remote just took all the items and log them in as evidence. That small remote they took from me, 2.99, changed the class of the crime because it pushed the value over $50.00. The remote was mine and they could not have seen me allegedly steal it as they did not even know I had it until I took out my stuff for the police officer. Then I went to jail to be booked. After 6 hours at the jail I went back to my car and later called the stores main office and talked to their head lp person and explained my disatisfaction with the episode. She was reasonable and said she would look into it and get back to me. My problem with this is my reputation is at stake here, Never had any problems with the law other then a traffic ticket. The humiliation and embarassment as I know many people at these stores for which I'm now trespassed from. My livleyhood is at risk being that spend lot money at these stores (about $45,000 in last 4 years) purchasing goods for resale. It seems it's been a bit blown out of proportion.
Any ideas how I should handle this? Thank you
dog
During the interview process the lp guy asked how much money i was carrying. I questioned that and refussed to tell him but did hand him my pocket full of papers, reciepts and cash and told him he could count it. He did and I was surprissed how much I had in that mess of stuff. The lp seperated the two rubberbanded items and asked a store worker for a price of the item, network card, that had no tag on it. It came back with a 19.99 price. so now it became three items. I questioned that as the two items that where rubberbanded together only had one 19.99 price tag on it. After sitting around for two hours the lp guy tried to get me to sign forms basicly admitting what they alleged I did along with a trespasing notice and I refused on the basis that I disagreed with the charges saying it was willfull theft and that the list of items/value was incorrect due to the seperation and pricing of the network card. The police showed up and arrested me. The officer asked me for my cash to inventory and any other personal items i had and I complied. I had a satalite radio remote control in my pocket along with my phone charger, earset, leatherman, 3 sets of keys and a collection of junk I seem to always carry on my person. that he ask if the remote was the stores and I told him it was purchased at the chains outlet store earlier that day. It had their sticker on it with a two day old date and the LP guy said there was no way that could have made it to the outlet store that quickly and took the remote from me. I argued his point of how fast some items make to their outlet store but he did not want to believe me. The officer questioned the whole thing and decided not to get involved in discussion about remote just took all the items and log them in as evidence. That small remote they took from me, 2.99, changed the class of the crime because it pushed the value over $50.00. The remote was mine and they could not have seen me allegedly steal it as they did not even know I had it until I took out my stuff for the police officer. Then I went to jail to be booked. After 6 hours at the jail I went back to my car and later called the stores main office and talked to their head lp person and explained my disatisfaction with the episode. She was reasonable and said she would look into it and get back to me. My problem with this is my reputation is at stake here, Never had any problems with the law other then a traffic ticket. The humiliation and embarassment as I know many people at these stores for which I'm now trespassed from. My livleyhood is at risk being that spend lot money at these stores (about $45,000 in last 4 years) purchasing goods for resale. It seems it's been a bit blown out of proportion.
Any ideas how I should handle this? Thank you
dog
