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Thank you so much for your help I greatly appreciate it.
You do think it will be a civil demand since the manager did not notify the police and since I was not taken into custody? Because I'm assuming if it was a legality issue (misdemeanor) that I would have had to talk to the police and my parents would have had to pick me up since I am a minor.
Just pay the civil demand immediately, and you should be fine.
Thank you so much for your help
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The Civil Theft Notice is from the Law Offices of Palmer, Reifler & Associates, P.A. I have been doing a bit of research about this and I have seen that many lawyers and people report that this is a scam? They advise not to pay the demand because it is not from an actual judge and the police were not involved. Also, they say that the company I stole from would waste money and time over suing for an item worth $5. I also immediately gave back the item that I stole so there were technically no "damages" resulting from the item being stolen, which is what they are filing a civil theft notice for.
I have also read that the minimum penalty for me to pay would be $75, and if I didn't pay on the first request, this "law firm" would send multiple letters in the mail requesting an increasing amount, and if I did not pay that they would take me to court.
Should I just not pay the demand? After all the research I've done and articles that I've read online, the majority of information I obtained says that this "law firm" is a scam because they are trying to scare me into paying them money by saying they will take me to court over a $5 undamaged item that was returned. Should I just call their bluff? I was reading an article on Wall Street saying that this company "sends out about 1.2 million such letters a year but follow up by suing fewer than 10 times a year." I feel that there is a .001% chance that the company would push for legal action over a $5 item that was undamaged and recovered.
Do you still advise that I pay?
Sources:
http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/pa...s---23234.html
http://jpdefense.com/new-york-crimin...e-is-not-paid/
http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc...iminal-charges
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