Inside Retail Theft (Circuit City)

[circuitshitty]

I used to work at Circuit City in Michigan until I was brought into an office one day with the loss prevention manager and talked to. I confessed to stealing under the pressure... The loss prevention manager and myself came up with "estimates" of the amounts of items that were believed to be taken and a total number over the amount $10000 was totalled. I signed a confession stating what was taken and how and also a restitution agreement to pay it back.

I was never shown any video footage proving the theft of merchandise. The only thing presented to me was my eBay account (after the confession), which they probably got when I signed into it at work (stupid I know).

Can the papers that I signed and my statement be used against me in court? I think they have a really weak case and just tried to get me to confess in which I did under the pressure...

I was getting unemployment until Circuit City fought it and now it's been cancelled due to the confession. Can I fight this also?

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[aaron]

Yes, unless a court excludes it from evidence, your confession can be used as evidence against you in court. You can claim you were pressured; the court will probably rule that your claims go to the weight of the confession as opposed to its admissibility.

Your eBay account can also be used against you as evidence.

[circuitshitty]

If the confession is all that they have, do you really think that they have a strong case? The eBay account is just heresy because just because it was sold on my account and we happen to be missing it from the store, that is not proof beyond reasonable doubt that I took it.

I was pressured into the confession and a few other things but I won't get into those. Pretty much what I'm asking is does it sound like they have a strong case if all that they have is my confession and my eBay account or should I fight this.

I was never shown any video footage unlike the previous guy they caught before me and that guy only stole $80 out of a register and he was arrested on the spot, I wasn't.

[aaron]

Juries usually find confessions to be extremely persuasive. And as you indicate, they can back up your confession with your eBay history.

[circuitshitty]

Can the confession be thrown out since I was on medication at the time it was taken and I was not in the right frame of mind. I have medical prescriptions for Vicodin and Skelaxin which were used for the pain from me falling down a flight of stairs and also for breaking my ankle.

[aaron]

You can try. Consult a criminal defense lawyer.

[PaulE]

(1) If the LPM brought you in for an "Interview" they already had enough evidence on you to go that far. (2) You said you were pressured? I've done a lot of interviews on internals and I know you're not telling everything here, just like you probably did with LP. If you didn't do anything wrong, never stole from your employer and didn't sell stolen property on Ebay, you should have said you did NOTHING!! The whole idea of the interview is take a set of provable facts on an employee and see just how willing they are to be truthful, you lied and LP stepped it up a notch, then you folded. The interview is admissible, the Ebay sales of their merchandise is admissible, your signed confession is admissible. You're still trying to lay down some BS..."I was under medication"....."They pressured me". The simple fact is you stole, were caught and now face the music, pony up!

The company is not obligated to show you any film of you doing your deeds and I'd be willing to bet they have an exact list of the stolen items and your sales on Ebay. I'll also bet they have more evidence on you than you think, it's like a poker hand.....if you want to see THEIR hand you'd better be ready to pay the price. If you copped out to $10,000 and signed the paperwork, you best get a lawyer to ease the pain.....Circuit City won't back down on this one. In short.....you're pretty well hosed.

[BlueCrystal]

Why is it when someone is caught doing something wrong to a store or other business they call the place they wronged bad names like (i.e. CircuitShitty) it's the store or business fault that they are a thief?

[circuitshitty]

It has now been almost 4 months since my being fired; if they haven't pressed charges against me yet, would it be pretty safe to say that they aren't going to pursue charges against me or do these things take a long time?

[chuckycheese]

Time is your only friend....I think you're going to face a horrible problem and I suspect it won't be your last. If, for some bizarre reason, things 'fell through the crack', you'd be wise to take a good, hard look at where you're headed....'cause it's not a good direction.