Caught Shoplifting at Walmart?

[chozai65]

I was caught shoplifting from Walmart in Missouri (I have shoplifted before, but was not apprehended, yes, I regret it and I made a stupid mistake) but this is my first shoplifting/theft charge. The total merchandise stolen was around $90-$100, if even that, for BOTH times. It was simply some DVDs. I admitted my guilt and cooperated with the LPS people in Walmart. The officer that they called did not take me to jail or cuff me but he gave me what was similar to a ticket and told me I could either show up on my scheduled court date (a month from now) or take care of it over the phone. I called the court and they said that for shoplifting charge I MUST appear in court. Now, the officer was a Sergeant. Did he not know what he was talking about when he told me I could simply take care of it over the phone? I did offer restitution and payment to Walmart for the stolen merchandise. If I show up for court, what will happen to me? Will I go to jail or just face a fine/have to pay for what I stole (yes, it was stupid and will never happen again, it was a moment of weakness, I stole DVDs for my kids' birthdays, but excuses don't matter to the court)?

Thank you for answering. I did NOT have my driver's license on me (it was in my vehicle, I was going to work) but I willingly gave them my address, phone number, and SSN. I hope that being cooperative and this being my first offense will be taken into account. I know it was stupid. It won't happen again, so please don't tell me "you shouldn't have stolen anything in the first place". I already heard it enough. I have low income, so hiring a lawyer is out the window (why else would I steal DVDs for my children?) so please don't tell me to hire a lawyer. I can't afford it. I can and will do community service if that will help. I am a nursing assistant, so I hope that I don't have a felony or whatever on my police record. Beyond one traffic ticket, I have never had an issue with the law.

[blaisdell]

Not sure. But I do know that wal mart is usually notorious for pressing charges on shoplifters.

[garret]

My friend stole 25.99 worth of goods from wal mart, and got caught. The security guy told him that because the value of the stolen property was over 25 dollars they were going to press charges. He was not arrested on spot but local PD were involved and he received a court summons at which point he was convicted to felony theft and sentenced to 50 hours of community service or something like that.

Idk about your situation or what they'll do in your case, but they pressed charges on my friend for 25 dollars worth of stuff, so its not looking good for you...

[fitche]

Walmart is such a big company and most of the time the management press charges. Just be prepared with your lawyer in case you will be summoned. Though you got only a $100, it is still theft and has some punishment or penalty.

[colten]

Well 1 Thing i Know For Sure Is , That even though you don't have the money for a lawyer
you cannot defend yourself in court so they will have to get one for you ( no cost )
said in 7th amendment , You admit you did the crime. How do you expect the PD to mess things up for you?
Your options are to:
1. Hire private counsel
2. Apply for a PD
3. Go pro se
The state is the only one who prosecutes crimes. Wal-Mart will go after you in civil court.
but i mean come on do you honestly think your going to jail for stealing dvd's
From wal-mart ??? i mean their are much bigger and tragic things people go to jail for
but still my aunt stole from wal-mart she did have community service ( depends on how much it costed ) well they banned her from wal-mart
Do NOT file a guilty plea without at least consulting with the incompetent PD that may be appointed to represent you. I, in my freaking-joke incompetence, can at least tell you that in an attempt to help you.

[unss94]

I don't know about adults, but it's not the same as a teenager getting caught. For some one like you, it's going to be a record and a fine. Still, they were suppose to call the police when an adult has no ID. Your story sounds made up to me.

[tonibraxton]

Everyone shoplifts are Walmart.. you never hear any other store being targeted like walmart..

[anson34]

Because you had no outstanding warrants for your arrest, and you pleaded guilty, you received a charge and release to appear in court. In regards to what the officer said about sorting it out, he is really meaning the court date of appearance and in case you have legitimate grounds to change this date of appearance but regardless you will still have to appear in court over this offence.

Once you deprive the property of its owner with no intentions to offer any payment for the property you have committed a criminal offence. You cannot simply turn around and offer payment as your intentions were clear prior to being caught. The value of the property is not an issue, a criminal offence is still a chargeable offence but regardless it is up to the store to report it to the police and from there they can either caution you or charge you. There can be many factors that would prevent this such as the value of the property recovered over the expense or time involved in dealing with the case, what the stores policy is and depending if there is a zero tolerance to deter further incidents or if they participate in civil recovery that could cover the costs involved (it costs money and time to process a shoplifter)

When you appear in court you will be simply asked if you are guilty or not guilty. You will have a legal advisor who will most probably tell you to plee guilty as i'm sure there will be cctv evidence against you therefore it is advised to accept the consequences for your actions in which the court will favour you for. If you plee not guilty then the case will most likely be adjourned in order to gather evidence and witness against you. This will cost the court in expense such as the witness being paid his/her loss of earning and travel expenses (the lpo who arrested you)u, the police officer and the time involved to transfer the cctv evidence into a suitable format for the court to view. You will be seen as guilty, the penalty higher and the compensations costs much greater.

In this case, being a first time offence, you will get a slap on the wrist.... most probably a small affordable penalty and perhaps a little compensation towards the store for the time involved in dealing with you. But it is not that that you should be worried most about... you will now have a criminal record. Get caught again and the penalties much greater. In order for you to go to jail you would have to of done it many many times with greater value involved. Usually the organised and full time lifters get this who have been dealt with many many times.

You know yourself it's not worth doing and it can soon spiral way out of control if you continue to steal. It affects not yourself, but your family relations too. Put your hand in the cookie jar and it will get stuck.

As an added note, because you got caught this time doesn't not mean to say they don't have evidence against you for previous offence that you got away with. In this case they don't. But alot of the times if you keep stealing from a store, and they don;t notice until you have gone, many lpo's will record an incident down and bring it all out against you once they catch you. Hence you could be charged for all offences in one go. The most i seen was a male who, over a year, stole over 10k worth of stuff with each offence reported, the cctv evidence stored, and was eventually caught for the first time. All the cd's were put on the table in front of him, he broke down into tears and was sent to jail for 6 months. He may of thought he got away with it, but he was very badly wrong. CCTV are all digital these days. They can store footage for months now on one small simple hard drive with most stores sharing the info with other stores and RACS database.