Accused of Shoplifting, No Papers Signed or Criminal Case, Just Got a Civil Demand

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Georgia.

March of 2010, I was stopped for shoplifting.
I was planning on puchasing with two different different credit cards, so I had a pack of pull-ups in a walmart bag so that I didn't pay for them with the other transaction. BIG MISTAKE!!
Not to mention, I have ADD and a man jumped in front of me in line and totally through off my line of thinking...
As I was leaving, a guy (LP) came to me and stopped me asking if I had paid for everything in my cart and I said yes and tried to walk away and he continued saying are you sure you paid for those pull-ups and I said "Shit" grabbed the item and tried to go back to the register to pay for it and he said no! and I looked at the Lp guy and said "excuse me". At this time, the manager was walking over as well. The LP guy asked to see my receipts, which I handed him.
And then the lp guy said I need you to come back here with us, and I looked at these two men and said umm.. I'm not going into a room by myself with you two gentlemen!
The guy rolled his eyes at me and told me to come into the room. Again I was hesitate, but he had my buggy with my purse in it and pushed it in the room. So I followed.
.... making it quick & to the point..
Cops come, the LP guy values up the stuff i "stole" such BULLSHIT, and then the LP stated that walmart doesn't prosecute for the value under $25 and told me I was free to go.
I signed NOTHING!
All he did was copy my driver's license (which i could have used a fake ID)
I had NO criminal charges brought against me or ANYTHING. Was never taken to the police station & finger printed or anything.
Then this month I get a civil demand letter in the mail stating that I need to pay a fine for shoplifting. Even though I had no criminal charges? offered to pay for item and was actually set free!!
How in the world did they know that I didn't have my ID stolen and someone used it in the situation!
They don't have my signature to match signatures or anything!
I wasn't even banned from the store! Matter of fact, i am in that Walmart ALL the time!
I go in there 3-4 times a week that most the associates know me! Even one of the managers (not the one in the story) will stop and talking to me all the time! (although I think he is trying to hit on me..)
In the letter it says that my case hasn't been evaluated, so I am guessing that they just send these letter automatically!
But.. I know that the standard protocol is that they take a picture of you when you are caught and that they make you sign a letter!
Is this something I can go to the store and discuss and see if the general manager can take care of... Any suggestions?

You were caught with unpaid merchandise.

You are getting off very easy with the Civil Demand. This is separate from Criminal Charges.

If you don't pay it....the amount can double, triple...then they can sue you in Civil Court. As the police were called, even though Criminal Charges were not pursued, there will still be a record of police were called. Likely, the store personnel have record of the event, including video footage.

If you want to claim you license was stolen....have fun explaining why you never reported it as such....

Approaching the store manager is not a good idea. You just give further evidence of your guilt. And with your ADD...maybe you forgot when you were told you were no longer welcome in any WalMart store......

did you leave the store? I am not up on Georgia Law but it might not necessarily be considered stealing unless you left the store. I have forgotten to pay for something on the bottom of the cart got to the car and was loading stuff, and I got a tap on the shoulder by a kid asking to see my receipt. they just asked me to pay for the item.

it happends.

You do NOT have to leave the store in GA to be guilty of shoplifting. GA is not the only state that does not require you to actually exit the store. If I am reading OP's post right, the following occurred: She was shopping in a Wal-Mart and had items she wished to pay for separately. In order to keep them from being mixed up she either produced a bag while on the sales floor or got one at the register, then placed the unpaid merchandise into the bag. She then attempted to leave with unpaid merchandise and was stopped. As a general rule, people just don't do things like that. And "I forgot to pay for it" is a common excuse from shoplifters. Had she not bagged it up, the door checker probably would have simply told her to go back and pay for it but she did so now ya pays the piper.

Oh and the my license was stolen story. There is a good chance there is video of you, good video of you, video that will clearly show it was you.

I will remember that free9man, don't put anything in your pocket at the store you intend to buy, even if your hands are overflowing full. because, it could be interpreted as shoplifting. wow, what have we come to?

Quote:

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Quoting JuniperBush

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I will remember that free9man, don't put anything in your pocket at the store you intend to buy, even if your hands are overflowing full. because, it could be interpreted as shoplifting. wow, what have we come to?

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There is a HUGE difference between putting something in your pocket b/c your hands are full, many stores provide shopping carts and hand baskets, and bagging something up and walking out with it. An LP representative can gauge the totality of the circumstances of putting something in your pocket, was it a candy bar or a $50 video game? Is it an 80 year old man whose hands are clearly full or a 30 year old woman acting nervously? Bagging up unpaid merchandise is just not something a reasonable person would consider an acceptable course of action.

For the record, I take no stance on the OP's guilt or innocence. I do not have the full facts from both sides to judge on.

99.99999999% of stores have these things called SHOPPING CARTS.

At any store, you can go to the greeter and ask for a cart. Or you can leave your stuff on a display at the entrance and let the greeter know "I need to leave these here for a minute while I get a cart.....". If that item is the last one on the shelf, again, you can carry it up to the greeter and have them watch it while you get a cart. Or you can ask the clerk in that department to please hold the item for you while you get a cart.....

Many shoplifters have gone to court and "yeah, I threw 10 packets of earrings in my purse because my hands were full, andI forgot about it". (or while they run to their car to grab the wallet they left there....with 10 things of earrings in a pocket...then forgot they were gonna pay for it......)

Also....let's address where the bag came from.
- Did OP bring an empty WalMart bag into the store? If so, this could be further proof of intent to defraud the store.
- Was it a reusable shopping bag? If so, there are lane dividers to separate orders.....
- Did OP go the front of the store and get a bag? If so, why not go a few more feet to the greeter to ask for a cart?

Those are questions the prosecutor/judge will have, also.

Again, we're not judging the OP...just putting out what a prosecutor/judge will say...and the "I put it in my pocket and forgot" story has been used by many shoplifters....

wow so much attention.. ok! I had a buggy that I was pushing around and actually I did a return prior to going shopping and that is where the bag came from.
My boyfriend had given me cash to get him a few items and I had to get pull-ups.
So I had put the one item of pull-ups in a bag, so I knew to pay for it seperately.
I had a buggy and everything was IN the buggy!
It was not the door greeter who had stopped me, it was actually a guy in jeans and a white T-shirt and had a "badge"
No i was not outside, I had passed the registers and proceeded to "attempt" to leave.

And actually who are you to report your Id stolen to?
Because I had to get another driver's license 2 years before this incident because I thought I lost my original ID. Then I found the orginial, having 2 at this time. Then I winded up losing 1. About 2 months after this incident, my actual ID that was lost was picked up from a bouncer at a local bar of someone trying to use it as a fake.
And their video is VERY grainy. So yes, it will show a female about 5' 3" 125lbs with brown straight hair.
I just described about 1/2 of Georgia in that sentence..

My question though, is that this is a generic letter that is sent out to everyone put on file. What are the chances that they will look at the case (if I don't pay) and just not persue it.
I don't get why it has been a year and now i'm getting a letter

and NO, I did not get banned from the store!
I remember the LP guy stating "you got lucky" and the heavens above are looking out for you for some odd reason! and also stating "you are free to go because were not going to do anything" The manager that was there even stated "think of this as a lesson learned"..
At that point, I stopped fighting my case about I seriously didn't do anything wrong!

In a legal sense, you had an item CONCEALED in a bag. And went past the last point of sale without paying for it.

All I will say is - how lucky do you feel? Because what tends to happen is this: They send you another letter....and double the amount. They send you a third letter....increased amount again.....next, they take you to Civil Court....and add in the costs of filing their civil lawsuit, and the legal fees. When they win....they can mess up your credit history with it....

I guess I figured "shoplifting" was the malicious intent of taking someone's property.
Wouldn't they have to prove "malicious intent".

Unlike most people on these forums, I am not trying to argue with what you are saying.
I'm just wondering how this whole entire process works.

Also, how does a civil case affect one's credit score? It is not a bill/debt until it has gone to court. If we go to court and I was to loose and I paid the fine that day, would it still affect my credit?

Thanks for all your help :)