I am a 58 yr. Old woman who should know better. I was caught taking a packet out of a box in the Canadian Superstore recently. I was arrested by the store detective and questioned in the back room. I was asked for my ID and the detective ran a check on me.No police were called, nor was I fingerprinted or photographed. I was told that I would receive a fine in the mail. It has been 3 weeks and I haven't received anything yet.My problem is that in my university days a bunch of us were caught shoplifting and I was given a suspended sentence and my files were erased a few years later. Can this incident make my recent misdemeanour worse or would they even be able to access any old supposedly destroyed records?

Just forget about it, hikergirl. No police, no fingerprinting (which would have taken place at the station).

Tick

Hi Tick
So I am assuming from your response that the consquences will just be the fine and probably a record that has to be pardoned at some point?

Ok, only if they got the police involved would the other arrest make any difference, If it did go to the police then with a prior arrest, you may not get a diversion program and end up with a fine to pay and a record of shoplifting ( still not a hardened criminal)

But since no police, in another month or two they will send you a store bill for a few hundred dollars to pay. If they never contact you, they just wrote it off as a mistake and you will have nothing to do with it.

So stop worry, do nothing, if they send you a bill pay it and it goes away