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hiswife · Mar 2, 2007, 05:12 PM

My husband was charged with theft, stealing from a department store. The case is nearly finished and now they are saying he owes restitution for the items he tried to steal. He thinks that he shouldn't have to pay for the items since they never left the store and the store would have been able to re-shelve them.

Does anyone know if that is common and legal to do?

Lowtax4eva · Mar 2, 2007, 06:08 PM

Yes, unfortunately I stole something once and had to pay $300.00, they explained it to me as I am paying for their security personels time, like their salary during the time it took them to process paperwork (police reports etc) and part of the cost of the equipment they use to stop theft. Looking back a few years I would say it's fair, if no one stole they wouldn't need a security staff and cameras, detectors etc which all cost money.

hiswife · Mar 2, 2007, 06:15 PM

Originally Posted by Lowtax4eva

Yes, unfortunately i stole something once and had to pay $300.00, they explained it to me as i am paying for their security personels time, like their salary during the time it took them to process paperwork (police reports etc) and part of the cost of the equipment they use to stop theft. Looking back a few years i would say it's fair, if no one stole they wouldnt need a security staff and cameras, detectors etc which all cost money.

I don't know if that makes sense, and I see you are in Canada, so I don't know if that is the law here, so what I am looking for more is the law in this area.

The amount in restitution is a itemized amount of the items, it doesn't say it's for anything else, and it would seem the punative amount was paid in the fine he's already paid??

I don't know, and I've learned the law doesn't often make rational sense, so maybe that is the case.

Lowtax4eva · Mar 2, 2007, 06:24 PM

Oh... you didn't mention above that he already paid a fine. Well this would be different, I can tell you all I had to pay was a flat fine, I didn't have to pay a fine plus the cost of the items. I guess it would depend on the state laws regarding minor theft, it's possible, I have heard of something similar before but I don't remember what state the person was in

shygrneyzs · Mar 2, 2007, 06:26 PM

What kind of restitution? Just the cost of the items? If that is the case, yes, the store can ask for that. Even though the items did not leave the store. This happened to my older brother about six years ago. His can argue his point with his attorney.

hiswife · Mar 2, 2007, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by shygrneyzs

What kind of restitution? Just the cost of the items? If that is the case, yes, the store can ask for that. Even though the items did not leave the store. This happened to my older brother about six years ago. His can argue his point with his attorney.

He doesn't have an attorney. The restitution is about $600, and that's about how much it would cost for an attorney so I don't know if it's worth it to hire one when the result of money we'd be out is the same anyway, you know?

What state is your brother in?

shygrneyzs · Mar 2, 2007, 06:37 PM

He was living in Minnesota at the time. $600.00 is quite a bit of money. If he would not pay it, what would happen?

hiswife · Mar 2, 2007, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by shygrneyzs

He was living in Minnesota at the time. $600.00 is quite a bit of money. If he would not pay it, what would happen?

I don't know, I assume jail time. He's already paid his fine and he went through this program that is for first time offenders. So, since he's already almost "done" I would assume they would negate all that in some way.