I kind of have the same problem as bailey101 but I didn't get any charges or court dates I just got a letter in the mail saying I owed them 500 dollars by this date... I don't have the money right atm so I still don't understand what will happen if they sue me.. will I have to pay thousands... I'm lost lol I have never gone through this before...

First its not a good idea to piggyback your question on someone else's. This can lead to confusion. You should start a new thread. So I've moved your question to its own thread.

There has been case law allowing stores to collect fines from shoplifters. If you don't pay. They will probably prosecute you in criminal court.

Yes, if you pay them, normally this goes away, with no criminal record. If you don't pay them, they can still press criminal charges. Plus of course they can still turn this over to collections to collect the money.