Civil Liability and Ban From Store After Accidental Shoplifting

[Andi]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: AZ

I upset and confused over my 20 year old daughter being accused off shoplifting.

Myself and 2 daughters shopped at Winco, while there one daughter left us and gathered some school supplies for her niece & nephew (my grandchildren). She didn't have the cart and placed an eraser, crayons and scissors in 2 mesh (see through) pencil pouches. Returned to us, showed us what she'd gotten and placed the items in the cart. After shopping for appx 40 more minutes we checked out. The pencil pouches were placed on the conveyor with the other $150+ groceries/items and rung up. I was talking to the cashier (I paid), my 2 daughters were bagging the groceries. No one noticed that the cashier had not rung up the items inside the pencil pouches. We were stopped at the door and my daughter was wisked away. This was a complete oversight. It had been our intention to pay for the items and expectation that they would be rung up. We were not given that option. How can my daughter be accused of shoplifting when nothing was ever concealed?

[cbg]

Because the cashier, the store manager, the law enforcement officers, and the court, have all heard this story of an oversight before. Many, many, many times before. And in all the other cases, the person was shoplifting and only used the "oversight" excuse after they were caught. Maybe your daughter is the sole exception, maybe not, but the fact of the matter is, it's been done before.

Please explain why she did not take the elementary step of removing the items from the pouches before placing the pouches on the conveyor? That would have been the normal thing to do and would have prevented the (quite reasonable under the circumstances) accusation.

[Andi]

I unloaded the cart. It was my oversight.

[Trailboss]

I unloaded the cart. It was my oversight.

The problem is: *You* may know that, and ....*You* may know that but....*They* don't know that! And they hear that stuff all day long! It gets old, after a while...and they just don't want to hear it anymore. They got (what they believe to be)their culprit and that's that. Unfair but: it is reality. They won't go by what you say (most of the time)but by what they *see*. Your daughter is busted because of what they saw...

[souperdave]

The majority of the time store management/security maintains interest in someone is that there's exhibited behaviors that keep them interested, and such is this case here it would appear. How "brave" of mom to claim it was all her "oversight".

Did anyone at any point tell your daughter to 'Tell it to the judge'? Jus' wonderin'.

[PandorasBox]

What the judge, etc., will not believe is this:

The store has these things called Shopping Carts. Your hands get full, you get one, then finish your shopping, placing everything in the cart.

Technically....when she placed the items into another item....she was right then guilty of concealment. Then when the items were not removed and not paid for.....it became Theft.

[mmmagique]

I have accidentally shoplifted before. Never realized it until I got either to the car or home. Scared me to DEATH! Generally it's been because it's self check-out and it's been a tiny little thing I didn't see. I am ULTRA careful now.
Luckily I have never been caught in my unwitting (and unwilling!) nefariousness.

[PandorasBox]

I've had a similar thing happen. I had two cases of beer. I also had 3 orders (mine, my mom's my grandmothers). So I'm screwing with keeping change sorted. Told the clerk when she first started ringing my stuff up that I had two cases of beer. When told my total, I said "you did get two cases, right?" "Yep". Run my ATM/Debit card. Got home and saw there was only 1 on the receipt.

[Andi]

The majority of the time store management/security maintains interest in someone is that there's exhibited behaviors that keep them interested, and such is this case here it would appear. How "brave" of mom to claim it was all her "oversight".

There was nothing "brave" about this. It's simply the truth. I was also the person that paid. It was merely a mistake.

I was initial very surprised by the cynicism here, but I’ve now come to realize I simply, and thankfully, don’t ‘live’ in the same world. My husband and I are professionals that have been blessed with very comfortable lives. Lives, that stealing is simply not a part of, so the accusation of shoplifting incited a tremendous sense of righteous indignation. I am now past that and just see the absurd disservice over-zealous LP agents provide to their employers by painting both distracted patrons with intentional shoplifters with the same broad brush. So be it. It is theirs to mismanage in any way they please.

As an analyst for a large online brokerage firm I see many clients make mistakes, but in my world we do not bully, abuse, fine and fire our client’s for their ‘oversights’. On the contrary we have client advocacy teams that work toward win-win situations. In the above situation, nobody won. I was a loyal 23 year shopper of a competing store, and was now shifting my loyalty to this new store in our area; Winco. With my daughter banned, I will never shop there again. Nor will the rest of my family, and extended family and friends (social, work, neighbor & facebook) , that do know us and know that we would never shoplift and will think twice before doing business them also.

[horsetrader]

Nobody cares about your big shot analyst job. You are not entitled to blue-ribbon treatment simply by virtue of your profession. Learn from your mistakes and move on.