Im 17 yrs old, and my sister is 12. We live in Queen Anne's County, which is located in Maryland. We were caught shoplifting in our local Kmart, and they had said that they saw me blocking my younger sister while she unwrapped everything and put it into her purse, it was true, and we admitted to it because we had seen the cop that accused us walk past a couple of times during, it just didn't hit us until later on. Well, that was all fine and dandy, but a couple days later we received a letter in the mail saying that Kmart is asking for actual damages ($76.57) plus the civil penalty ($153.14) stating that "a civil penalty equal to twice the stated sales price for the merchandise but not less than $50 nor more than $1000," all leading up to them charging both my sister and myself 3 times the amount we were accused of. Which equaled to $229.71 for me, and $229.71 for my younger sister. My question is, is that allowed? Can they charge both of us 3 times the amount?

Your lucky you wernt taken to court, lets just say that

You did get lucky. Things could have been worse, and I am speaking from experience. I would pay anything if the charges weren't put on my record. A similar situation happened to me 5 years ago, and I am so happy about the outcome. I had to pay a fine that was 5 times its amount , but did not get arrested, did not have to appear in front of a judge and was not fingerprinted. But it's been on my shoulders for all that time. I don't know how to answer your question, you can fight it or whatever, but most importantly, learn from your mistake and be a good role model to your sister. Talk to her about how wrong it is to steal. If you love her you wouldn't let her get into that stuff.

Yes they can charge you three times the amount. I would pay it and count my blessings that I was not sent to juvenile court. If you fight it, what are you going to gain? Cannot see any gain there.

While I agree that paying a fine is preferably to having criminal charges pressed, I don't know for a fact that what they are doing is legal.

Did the letter cite any laws that stated they could charge you that amount. If not, then you should ask them to cite what law justifies them charging you.