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darrenmom · Aug 9, 2010, 09:47 PM

I went to the store (Walmart) with my brother, his girlfriend and my cousin and my mom. My mom was purchasing groceries. My brother and I are 19. My cousin 20 and my brother's girlfriend is 18. The youth all went to the candy aisle and then we split up while waiting for my mom. I looked at some videos, took a couple of them up and examined them and put them back. My cousin was dancing in the store listening to his iPod. My brother and his girlfriend were back and forth in different aisle.

We went to find our mom and my brother found her first and went to the car to sit with her waiting for the rest of us. When we took a long time to come out to the car, he came in to find out what the hold up was. At that time he found out that his girlfriend was taken to security because she had 4 DVDs in her backpack and a couple pairs of pyjamas.

We called our mom and she came inside to speak with the Loss Prevention rep. She was told in our presence that we were acting as a crew. They thought all of us were involved in trying to lift things from the store. He repeatedly said he heard nothing or saw nothing on any of the tapes to implicate us. He walked by a few times and saw suspicious behavior on the part of the young lady. My mom asked him for the tapes and he said there was none of us. He did show the contents of the young lady's bag. He repeatedly told my mom he had no case against us,that he didn't see us on camera and that he found nothing on us and the most he could do with us was issue a citation for us not to enter the store again unless under the discretion of our mom. He did say that the young lady would be charged since the merchandise was over $50.00. They called the police and when the police came, the Loss Prevention rep again told them that he had nothing on us but he wanted to process the young lady for shoplifting charges. The store manager then said no, he wanted all four of us to go to jail because he thought we were acting in tandem.

We were never shown any evidence against us. We were never read our rights when we were handcuffed and taken to jail. We asked for and never received the needed medical attention (medicine) that was requested several times. Basically we were treated poorly. How can we be sent to jail for not being even in the aisle where the merchandise were shelved, had nothing in our pockets, was never seen on tape or anything to prove we were stealing? Can we go to jail just because something thinks we know that a crime is going to be or is committed?

What are my rights in this situation? I had no idea that the young lady was putting anything in her bag and I certainly didn't put anything in her bag. We all went to jail and spent 19 hours there for something I didn't do. Is there anything that I can do?

Alty · Aug 9, 2010, 11:30 PM

Are they pressing charges against you?

darrenmom · Aug 10, 2010, 09:37 PM

Yes they did. They pressed charges for a misdemeanor for shoplifting.

O_Troubles · Aug 10, 2010, 11:28 PM

Get the case thrown out for lack of evidence do they offer legal aid in your state/province?

J_9 · Aug 11, 2010, 12:22 AM

Get an attorney.

LP (loss prevention) frequently walks around the store looking like an ordinary shopper. From your description it does sound as though the rest of you were trying to get the attention off the girl who was doing the actual shoplifting.

Your rights don't need to be read to you until you are formally charged.

What medical attention are you talking about? Was someone hurt during the arrest or at the jail?