Caught Shoplifting in Idaho

My question involves criminal law for the state of: ID

Hey everyone, just want to say thank you in advance for your help.

I am 21 years old and obviously didn't exhaust my juvenile klepto tendencies of years past. I was in Winco on Sunday evening and purchasing a couple weeks of groceries. As I walked down the medicine isle I got an urge, stopped, walked back, grabbed a box of Aleve ($5.48) and put it in my pocket. After paying for my groceries I was stopped, detained, issued civil penalty of $250 plus the $5.48 for the Aleve and a no trespass order for 100 years. No criminal charges, no police. The store would not allow me to pay them the penalty and said I had to send it in to corporate.

My thought process on how to proceed went something like this:

-Pay immediately and be done with this foolish mistake

-Write Winco Corporate a sincere letter of apology and ask for leniency on either the Penalty and/or the trespass order as I am a broke college student and this really sucks.

-Google search..... See reccomendations to not pay the civil penalty because "I've never seen a store sue." Actually saw that a few times but plenty of the opposite advice obviously.

-Register here and ask because obviously simply not paying and getting away with it would be fantastic.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

I am willing to cut the check and pay for it. I really just don't want to for obvious reasons. I know this is my mistake and I am immensely embarrassed and pissed at myself... but I don't hold any strong moral fiber that really makes me feel guilty for what I did. I was actually pissed that I didn't even get to keep the Aleve but it's cost was included in the penalty... but then again I am the criminal and shouldn't complain, right? I actually don't know and am really looking forward to your opinion!

Thank you so much!

Nobody here can promise you that the store won't sue you. That's going to depend on the store and who represents them in their civil demand collection efforts.

It's quite possible that they'll negotiate a smaller payoff, particularly if they are disinclined to sue, but you won't know until you ask.