I was in my old work the other day and I accidentally had about 15 dollars worth of stuff in my child's stroller and walked out not remebering it was there. I am sure that if they look on the cameras they would see that I had stolen these things and most everyoe there knows who I am. I live in Ontario, can the store come after me and charge me after I left the store. I am worried I am going to have a cop show up at my house or something and also worse then that what if I go back to the store can they press any charges or arrest me days after when no charges were origanlly pressed? Some advice would be great.

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Originally Posted by Theguy

I was in my old work the other day and I accidently had about 15 dollars worth of stuff in my childs stroller and walked out not remebering it was there. I am sure that if they look on the cameras they would see that I had stolen these things and most everyoe there knows who I am. I live in Ontario, can the store come after me and charge me after I left the store. I am worried I am gonna have a cop show up at my house or something and also worse then that what if I go back to the store can they press any charges or arrest me days after when no charges were origanlly pressed? Some advice would be great.

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Sorry but I don't know how you "accidently" have merchandise in your stroller and then walk out without "remembering" it was there - aside from the circumstances, that's a contradiction and I would think the Police will see it that way, too.

Someone else posted in Canada about a month ago and, yes, she was arrested and, yes, she was charged - although she did have a prior conviction and maybe that had something to do with it. I would think most shoplifting charges are placed AFTER you leave the store with the merchandise, anyway. You can be arrested for concealing merchandise or using merchandise in the store but I think "usually" you get confronted after you leave.

Anyway - yes, you can be charged at any time after they realize a crime has been committed. Why would you go back to the store unless you want to be arrested - ?

If what you say is true and you forgot about the items in the stroller, why didn't you go back and pay for them as soon as you noticed?

It sounds to me like you stole these things and didn't think about the consequences until later.

If this was an innocent mistake then I would go back to the store and explain what happened, maybe they'll be understanding and let you pay for the items and forget the whole thing.

Either you have sver short term memory loss or you are a thief. If it is memory loss return the items other wiseeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

The answer is YES, they can come back till the statue of limitation is over, at least a year ( not sure exactly)
And there is the issue, if you did not mean to steal it, you take it back and/or pay for it,

If you hve keep it, after you know you did not pay for it, then it does become theft.

Fr_Chuck, wanted to give you a greenie but had to spread the rep. Great answer and oh so true. Just because you didn't originally mean to steal it doesn't mean it's not theft if you keep it.

Thanks, not sure If I am making any sense at all tonight, I keep dozing off at the keyboard tonight.

My problem is the pain meds keep kicking in... and out.
Depending on how long it's been since you stole the stuff, is how you might want to deal with it. If it's been more than a day or so, I see no way to return these things without making it look like a theft. Maybe, if it's been several days, it might be best to ignore it. Since you once worked there, someone might have done you a favor and "missed" it on the tape. If the cops do show up, then you would need to deal with the court. I doubt that they take time to review every tape, and after 30 days or so, I doubt they would spend the time to review them then.

It's already been said.

You could have returned it right away and apologized.

You could have went back, and paid for all that stuff.

You did neither.

Yes, that is theft.

The OP hasn't been back since the original post which was in March.

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Originally Posted by Altenweg

The OP hasn't been back since the original post which was in March.

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Nice, I surely missed that important fact!

Boy, must have been some expensive stuff in that stroller, and the police must have showed up after all.

I guess there's no internet service in jail. ;):)