I recently took aroun $700 from a retail store where I was working. I loaded it onto gift cards that I was going to give out. I did have the intention of repaying the money, but was caught before I had a chance (not that it would have made a difference). I know that it was incredibly wrong and in hind sight can't even believe that I did it. I have never been in any trouble before, short of maybe a speeding ticket once. I am 24 years old with an education and feel that I am a good person who made a really bad choice. I am also 6 months pregnant right now. The retail store is cancelling the gift cards that I purchased with the larger gift card, so really all that I ended up "getting away with", for lack of a better term, is maybe around $300 or $400. I was extremely cooperative with the officials and the executives during the entire situation. My question is, what is going to happen? I am going to court in a few days and don't know if I should get an attorney or not. Will I go to jail? Will I just be made to pay back the money with restitution? Will I have community service? Will this prohibit me from getting a job in the future? (I used to be a teacher, but took a year off to have a baby.) My family and friends do not know what is going on as of now, and I really want to keep it that way if possible. But my main concern is, will I be locked up in this situation? Please help! I deeply regret it all and just want to start over!

I now have a lawyer and my actual court date (apparently that was just a preliminary???) is in January. I remembered that the people who first confronted me (the execs. at the store) told me that I would end up receiving a bill from a collections agency that included what I took plus restitution. They never said anything about convicting me. Is this something that can be settled? Or is that only when someone has been sued by another individual? I am willing to pay restitution, do community service, be on probation, anything...I just want to spare my family and stay out of jail. What do you think my chances are?

By the way, thanks for your info earlier...it helped calm my nerves.

Understand that I am not an attorney and that your attorney is the best source of advice, no one else for questions like this. Stealing from someone is both a civil and criminal matter, by that I mean that there is a written law in the criminal codes of your state that says more or less, what you did is a crime against society punishable by the laws of your state. It's also a civil matter meaning that your actions involve you and the retail entity you stole from and the retail entity can legally go to court, get a judgement against you for their loss and then collect on the judgement. I don't see any responses to your questions but I do see you thanked someone for advise they apparently gave you earlier.
Best advise is to obtain an attorney. I would think he would advise you that if you admit to your actions, it would be best to make full restituion if you can before your court appearance. The Judge, I would think, might be more lenient when you face criminal charges. I would face your family and tell them now, perhaps they can help you pay restitution now before the court date. They will not be shocked, unpleasantly surprised when they eventually find out. If convicted in court, you may indeed have problems finding other jobs. Many companies obtain background reports either prior to or shortly after employment. You may indeed serve some time in jail and most likely have to serve time on probation, report to a probation officer, refrain from similar incidents. That's about all I can say except I find it difficult to understand what led you to this. I would consider some sort of counseling so you can understand yourself better. An appointment with a mental health counselor or psychiatrist would be my recommendation. Good luck.

Is this something that I could get pardoned? I live in Illinois, USA, by the way.

To get pardoned, you would first have to be convicted.