I was at the mall two weeks ago, I'm kind of addicted to shopping and my cousin came down from Texas and was talking to me about how sometimes he gets away with slipping things in his bag. I never really thought of it. But I was in the area so I went to the mall, and I remembered what he said. I basically took two shirts I left the store and no one noticed so I went on my way home. I got really greedy, went back the week after by myself, did the same thing except I stole way more. I ended up going to the jewelry department, taking a bunch of jewelry and clothes. I somehow snuck everything into the change rooms unnoticed. I don't know why I thought I could get away with it. I'm so stupid. I just thought if I could get away with it once, I could do it again, so I didn't do it subtle this time. I guess I got way too comfortable with it even though it was only the second time I did it. I went into the change rooms, got about four bracelets, three pairs of earrings, and two necklaces. I got a pile of clothes like 8 in total. Brought them all into the change room only intended to take a few but I ended up taking as much as I could fit in my bag. I never thought of all the repercussions. Anyway, as I'm walking out, thinking I got away with everything, I feel a strong hand squeeze my arm, I turn around and he tells me that I didn't pay for my jewelry. I gave him a confused face and he says he saw everything on camera. He takes me to a room tells me to put my phone and bag on the table and sit down, so obviously I follow his instructions. Long story short, he asks me for my ID, as well as takes out all the merchandise, finds all the tags in the change rooms, brings in another female security guard, brings in the mall security, I sign a form that says I'm banned from the mall for two years. Basically the security guard that caught me said a PI put a tab on me the week before for stealing and since I did it in such a short time span they had the chance to identify me. They don't know exactly what I stole the first time but this time they caught everything. All of the merchandise ended up totaling to $630 which was completely unexpected. I was only there for a short period and I wasn't really checking prices or brands, I just picked up things I liked. When explaining to the officer, the security guard even included that. I didn't think it was going to amount to that much only because it was a few items of jewelry and like maybe 6 clothing items, enough to fit my bag but I guess it's cause the brands from that store are extremely expensive. They banned me from that company store for 99 years. They also gave me a form that said they were taking legal action. He called the cops, a cop came down arrested me all of the other security guards went home since this was around the time the mall was closing. The cop told me that I would have to attend two court dates, one where the company was going to sue me, and one regarding the crime I committed. He also told me though that he was taking me to jail for the night. But after finding my criminal history, which was blank, he ended up letting me go and gave me one court date as well as one fingerprinting. I have a few questions. What are the repercussions of this act... I don't have a job, I turned 18 just two months ago and I'm not planning on telling my parents, they're extremely conservative and we aren't really well off either so I can't just pull this money out of anywhere. I'm not even sure if I can get a job anymore because if this ends up on my record I won't ever be able to handle money. Is there any way I can get this off my record - I'm going to apply to college next summer, hopefully for nursing and I don't even know if that can happen anymore. I'm so scared. I have a plan for my future and I'm not even sure if that can happen anymore because of this stupid mistake. I'm so upset with myself I would do anything in my life to make this disappear or go back in time and stop myself from making such a stupid life altering decision. I'm also confused as to if I'm really getting sued by the company? Community service, programs, any of that I will do I just don't know how to take on this money problem. I don't know where I'll get it. If I wouldn't have made such a stupid decision I know I wouldn't be in this position, but I can't take anything back. All I can do is watch my future decisions and smarten up. Obviously, I would never do it again. It's wrong I just want to know the possible outcomes of my stupid decisions. I'm extremely scared and hopeless

You can forget the nursing career. That's not going to happen with a record of any kind.

You need to get an attorney. Preferably a good one.

You need a lawyer. You will need to tell your parents as there is no way you will be able to keep this from them anyway. If you get hit with a hefty fine and need to pay it, how do you think you will manage without your parents knowing? If you can't pay it and wind up in jail, I am guessing they will figure it out then.

As J_9 said, a record is going to make it very difficult, if not impossible to become a nurse. My wife has to undergo background checks on a fairly regular basis.

You called what you did "a mistake" and you said how sorry you are for doing it...well, first...it wasn't a mistake. You did it twice. You knew full well what you were doing so there is no way you could consider this a mistake. As for sorry for doing it...sorry? You did it once and got away with it so you wanted to go again....sounds more like you are sorry you got caught. I believe you won't do it again and you learned from this but you are going to have a tough time ahead of you now for doing this. Get a lawyer before you go to court...it's your only chance.

As a nurse, I undergo background checks yearly and drug tests randomly.

What you did wasn't a mistake. A mistake is putting the pasta in the water when it's not boiling. What you did was make a choice to steal. You did it not once, but twice. If you hadn't gotten caught this time, you would have continued.

There are consequences to our actions. You chose to steal, now you have to face the consequences. You need to tell your parents before they find out from other sources. They will most likely be the ones to front the money for the attorney you need.

Wow, now you are " extremely worried and hopeless" but it didn't bother you before with continued stealing? How many times and how much? I lost count.