Caught Shoplifting, But Possibly Suspected Due to Friend's Appearance

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Oregon

I was caught stealing from macys today. My friend has tatoos all over and I feel they were targeting us. They had no probable cause.

Her and I went into the dressing room and tried on clothes her room was piled with someone else's clothes and my room had a couple shirts in it with less hangers. When i left the room I took the clothes that were already in the dressing room so I left with the same amount I entered with. I made a purchase and left Macys, it was then I was approached by loss prevention and she grabbed my arm and bags.

As she led me to the back room she asked lots of questions like why did I steal, I remained quiet and said I don't know my rights and wont answer the questions.

When we got to the back room my friend was already there. The searched our bags and found merchandise. When she found it she didn't recognize the brand and started questioning where I got it from jcpennys Sears etc.. I said macys. When they found my friends merchandise they tried matching it up with tags from the dressing room but non of them match probably cause there was so much stuff in the dressing rooms.

Long story short, don't they have to have probable cause to stop and search you. She said survellance showed us picking out the stolen merchandise and trying it on and after leaving the dressing room it wasnt on the rack. But when she found the merchandise in my bag she thought it was from another store which means she wasn't looking for it in the dressing room. Did they violate my rights. Is there a good chance this could hold up in court, and if it did would it dismiss my charge?

They had probable cause. You went in with clothing A and exited with clothing B. Clothing A was not in the fitting room. That's a good stop. That she had a momentary brain-fart as to the lines of merchandise the store carries probably won't matter a whit. They got you plain and simple.

No they did violate your rights. Depending on Oregon's statutes on the matter, which I don't know, the protection from unreasonable searches applies ONLY to government entities. It has not yet been extended, nor do I expect it to be, to private businesses.

The Oregon merchant statute is 131.665.

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Quoting free9man

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No they did violate your rights. Depending on Oregon's statutes on the matter, which I don't know, the protection from unreasonable searches applies ONLY to government entities. It has not yet been extended, nor do I expect it to be, to private businesses.

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Actually, although it is not based on the same rules as a detention by a government agency, if there was not valid justification for the detention, it is likely it would be an illegal detention and actionable by the detained person. In this case, that doesn't appear to be a problem though as OP was detained and the stop was justified by the presence of stolen merchandise on the person.

While it is not exactly the same as a search without a warrant, if the merchant detains a person wrongfully, there are several laws that would come into play.

It's really funny to see thieves try to find ways out of prosecution when they get caught. If only they hadn't stolen something in the beginning, they wouldn't be in this predicament.

How about putting the blame for your apprehension where it belongs? With you and your friend shoplifting.

It's unreal how many SHOPLIFTERS think they were stopped because of tattoos, piercings, race, nationality, etc. When in reality, it was their ACTIONS......

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Quoting PandorasBox

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How about putting the blame for your apprehension where it belongs? With you and your friend shoplifting.

It's unreal how many SHOPLIFTERS think they were stopped because of tattoos, piercings, race, nationality, etc. When in reality, it was their ACTIONS......

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You've got to be kidding Pandora. OP believes their scheme was foolproof and it had to be some discriminatory action that caused the LP to stop her. Geesh, didn't you read that they went to a lot of effort to not be caught?

I suspect one thing the OP failed to mention was it was her friend that left the clothes in the changing room that allowed the OP to walk out with the same item count. Gee, like nobody has ever thought of that before.

The store doesn't need probable cause to watch suspected shoplifters.

You were charged with stealing something, and you admit, "I was caught stealing", so presumably at least one of the tags matched up.

I take resposibility and I am paying civil of 500$ I learned my lesson. My question is trying to get out of the charge so it doesn't go on my record. If your not going to offer advice and just put me down I think there is better things you can do with your time.
With that said....

The macys dressing rooms were full of clothes from previous people. My roomate and I were in different rooms. How can they do probable cause when the dressing rooms were so messy you can't tell if we took the merchandise or if its in the room itself. I never admitted I stole anything nor did I say it was okay to search my bags.

Also, in,Oregon is there diverson or a way to get it espounged, or even a lesser charge?

You were observed going into the fitting room with clothing that did not match the clothing you exited with. They checked the fitting room and the clothing they saw you going in with was not there.......walaaa.....probable/reasonable cause. Maybe you're watching too many CSI shows?

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Quoting Security Consultant

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You were observed going into the fitting room with clothing that did not match the clothing you exited with. They checked the fitting room and the clothing they saw you going in with was not there.......walaaa.....probable/reasonable cause. Maybe you're watching too many CSI shows?

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Maybe not for me but my friends room had atleast 30 pieces of clothing in it. so your saying if i go into a dressing room and leave my clothes in the dressing room then they can search me everytime. I understand this is not a great question but im just trying to figure out technicality of it all.