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Caught Shoplifting, First Time Offense, Under $20

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  • 05-29-2011, 05:03 PM
    gar0989
    Caught Shoplifting, First Time Offense, Under $20
    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Texas

    I was caught up shoplifting an item under $20; signed the paper stating that I am barred from their premises. LP told me I would receive a notice from the store with a fine. He said the fine would be about 200$; he handed me a paper notifying that the store has the right to add charges on top of the fine. This is my first offense and am willing to pay to fines.

    My questions are is there a big chance that the store will add the extra charges and am I going to appear in court? I wasn't arrested and no cops were involved. Everything was done in store.

    Also, I'm recent college graduate and am in the process of applying for many jobs, how bad will this affect me?

    EDIT: after reading around through some threads here I decided to call up the LP at the store; he told me there'd be no summons, just a fine. However I'd would still like comments/answers for my last question.
  • 05-30-2011, 06:37 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Caught Shoplifting, First Time Offense, Under $20
    Whether or not the store presses charges is up to them. You appear to be stating that they have chosen not to press charges and the "fine" at issue would appear to be a civil demand, but you're not entirely clear on that. Generally speaking, when a store says "We're not pressing charges" they don't press charges.
  • 05-30-2011, 09:53 AM
    gar0989
    Re: Caught Shoplifting, First Time Offense, Under $20
    yes, I believe it's a civil demand only.
  • 05-30-2011, 10:36 AM
    PandorasBox
    Re: Caught Shoplifting, First Time Offense, Under $20
    For your job market, worst case scenario at this point is that you may be entered into the National Retail Theft Database, and from what I understand, that would only be visible to the retailers who subscribe to it.

    Learn from this...had you had criminal charges, any career involving money, a high level of trust, pharmaceuticals/access to them, and many other fields....the charge would have made it very difficult at best to find a job.
  • 05-30-2011, 01:34 PM
    gar0989
    Re: Caught Shoplifting, First Time Offense, Under $20
    ^ thank you.

    this is definitely a lesson learned.
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