Ran from Employee Who Apprehended Me for Shoplifting

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

Today I walked into Vons to steal a soda, a gatorade, and 3 packages of candy. I was stopped at the door by an employee (not loss prevention, was older, looked like a stocker) saying "hey, excuse me, excuse me" coming up behind me, but I threw what I had outside in the trash and took off running. He said "Aww, don't do that..." as I tossed the stuff. I was not followed. Since I had work in 10 minutes, I had to come back to the parking lot (which has cameras) and drive away. I am using my friend's car registered under his parent's name in another city.

What is going to happen if anything? Will Safeway bother to call the cops and run the plates and open an investigation over a relatively small offense like mine, especially since they recovered the loss items? Thanks. I have been shaking and feeling sick ever since. I do not know what came over me. Please help.

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Will Safeway bother to call the cops and run the plates and open an investigation over a relatively small offense like mine,

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you have two ways of finding out and only one of the is dependable. If you get arrested for this or your friend gets a visit from the police, you know they would. If you call them and ask them, they may tell you one or the other but that is not a guarantee they are telling you the truth.

Not sure how I would get arrested. Say they run the plates, they would find it belongs to a middle-aged man in a city 500 miles away who is clearly not the person who was caught on camera. Do they actually send the local cops of this area to this man's door? Also I realize that stores like Safeway settle small offenses (of less than a certain dollar amount) via a civil demand letter. Even if I was caught and detained, I believe the civil demand letter is all that I would have gotten. They don't get the cops involved for small time crime like this to my knowledge. This leads me to believe that they would not open an investigation, but of course I know nothing to an absolute certainty other than my own embarrassment and regret of my foolishness.

We've seen people arrested for a $1.00 soda.

Yes, they may run the plates and then pay a visit to the man who is the registered owner, find out you had been using the car that day, and come knocking on your door.

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Quoting claurice

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Not sure how I would get arrested. Say they run the plates, they would find it belongs to a middle-aged man in a city 500 miles away who is clearly not the person who was caught on camera. Do they actually send the local cops of this area to this man's door? Also I realize that stores like Safeway settle small offenses (of less than a certain dollar amount) via a civil demand letter. Even if I was caught and detained, I believe the civil demand letter is all that I would have gotten. They don't get the cops involved for small time crime like this to my knowledge. This leads me to believe that they would not open an investigation, but of course I know nothing to an absolute certainty other than my own embarrassment and regret of my foolishness.

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a civil demand is in addition to the criminal issue. One does not exclude the other from being enforced.

and yes, I have seen people prosecuted for much less than you stole.

it's nice that you admit the car is illegally registered too.

I suppose. But what is most interesting are the chances. If the chances of that happening are less than a percent, than I will be no more worried about than I will be about getting in a fatal car accident today on my way home.

Why would they conduct an investigation costing expensive police time and be pounding on my door for $10 of recovered merchandise when the store itself wouldn't even prosecute for theft of this size? Some of the people who respond on these boards seem like trolls that feed on the fear of scared kids who made a mistake.

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Whether or not they prosecute depends on a dollar amount decided upon by an individual store. I'd estimate the average to be around $50.

The owner is letting his son use it for college in another state. Nothing illegal with that.

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claurice;706445]I suppose. But what is most interesting are the chances. If the chances of that happening are less than a percent, than I will be no more worried about than I will be about getting in a fatal car accident today on my way home.

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I would say the chances of it happening are quite slim. In fact, I would think the possibility of one of the employees of the store recognizing you, and hopefully identifying you and calling the police to inform them they have identified the person they filed a report on previously, would be immensely more likely.

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Why would they conduct an investigation costing expensive police time and be pounding on my door for $10 of recovered merchandise when the store itself wouldn't even prosecute for theft of this size?

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who says they wouldn't prosecute? I have known stores that prosecute ALL theft regardless of the dollar value. It is called an incentive to other stupid people that think they won't get into trouble if they steal less that [insert any amount you choose].

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Some of the people who respond on these boards seem like trolls that feed on the fear of scared kids who made a mistake.

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mistake? Turning left instead of right at the intersection is a mistake. Stealing is an intentional criminal act.

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Whether or not they prosecute depends on a dollar amount decided upon by an individual store. I'd estimate the average to be around $50.

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that is called gambling and if you notice, those that own the gambling houses spend huge amounts of money that those gamblers give them.

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The owner is letting his son use it for college in another state. Nothing illegal with that.

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actually, there is

:highly_amused:

10/10 response.