It was father's day. My 5 yr old daughter wanted to buy me a pair of socks. We went to the mall. I chose my socks. I saw some shoes that I liked. I decided to try them and used the socks I chose to try the shoes with. I bought a couple fo pairs of shoes for myself. I paid for the shoes. I told them to pack my sandals and walked out wearing one of the new pair of shoes. I totally forgot about the socks and so did my wife and daughter.

I was caught at the exit and charged with petty larceny. I tried to explain but the woman there did not want to listen.

I have been asked to go to court next month. I thought all it was is to go to court and explain myself and the judge would understand. But, now I get these mail everyday in my mailbox from attorneys wanting to represent me. This is crazy! The socks was just a slip of the mind. If I had removed the new shoes I would have remembered the socks. Wouldn't a judge understand that? Do I need an attorney?

JudyKayTee

I doubt the Judge will understand - it's called shoplifting and I can't imagine - if you have a clean record - that it will be anything but a fine and restitution.

What State?

lnsa

I am in VA and have a clean record. It is an honest case of slip of the mind vs. Kleptomania. What does fine and restitution mean? I guess my concern is if it goes into my record and affect my career and such. I would like to maintain my clean record.

Fr_Chuck

yes, the judge will not really care, he will be hearing 4 theft cases, 5 drug cases, maybe a couple domestic violence cases along with yours, and guess what everyone is innocent, did not mean it, or it was not there fault. If you went out the door with something and the store pressed charges, and yes you want an attorney to help know what to do, to try and keep this off your record, by getting some diversion program

lnsa

Thank you very much for your answers. So, what you are saying is there is a higher probability of being pronounced 'guily' rather than 'not guilty'.
In my mind, 'guilty' means i meant to steal a pair of socks. Not guilty' means the judge believes that I genuinely forgot about the socks.
By paying a fine or by doing a diversion program, am I not accepting the 'guilty' verdict when I am in fact not gulity. How will that not affect my record? This is so crazy!

lnsa

I do have one more question. Can I approach the shop management and try to explain this whole thing again and see if they would withdraw charges? It is very important fo rme to hold a clean record. I can't believe that this is happening.

JudyKayTee

They didn't put this kind of time and effort into this matter in order to drop the charges - the time to get them to drop the charges is long gone (this happened Fathers Day weekend, right?).

So go to Court, in my area you meet with an Assistant DA, you explain yourself, he makes an offer, you decide whether or not to take it - I see some sort of fine, restitution (paying the store back for its loss and some of its expense) and you ride off into the sunset.

Perhaps the store will ask you to never return - or at least not to return for a year or so.

JudyKayTee

You are confused about the guilty or not guilty part - the store obviously didn't believe you when you were stopped because that was the time to explain and try to get this matter dropped.

Insa, you walked out with a pair of socks you didn't pay for. That is called stealing. If you walked out of the store without paying for the stocks, you stole them. That's the legal language, that's what happened, that's why you were charged. The store also may have pressed charges because you had children with you - bad example for your kids and the store wanted to reinforce that thinking.

There is no category called "I forgot I was wearing the socks and so I left without paying for them but it was all a terrible mistake and I didn't mean it and I wasn't guilty."

Stop explaining that you are not guilty of stealing when you "legally" stole the socks.

This is not "so crazy." You walked out with something you didn't pay for.

How do you explain it? If anybody asks you tell them what happened and they either believe you or they don't.


Obviously the store presses charges against all shoplifters - what store?

lnsa

Dear JudyKayTee,

It is very important that I have a clean record for my job which requires security clearance. Fine and restitution means guilty. Diversion program means guilty though not active in my accessible criminal record. I am not sure if this holds good for high security clearance. Does it?

I know the world is not a fair place, but, it kills me to be pronounced guilty for something that I wouldn't dream of doing.

Isn't there any merit at all to trying and contacting the store - if it is worth a try and there is a speck of hope, I would do it. If so, should I go by myself or should I have an attorney pursue that option first?If I should contact an attorney, how I do go about choosing one?

Please advice all options. How should I approach this to maintain my clean record - both accessible and inaccessible.Is there no way out?

lnsa

This nightmare happened at JC Penny.