Caught Stealing Food from a Grocery Store, Petty Theft, PC 484
My question involves criminal law for the state of: California
So I got a petty theft citation and have court in about a week.
I was really hungry and something happened with my debit card so it wouldn't let me withdraw money. I took less than $5 worth of stuff from a grocery store, got stopped by a security guard and later cited by a police officer.
I'm 19 years old and have no past criminal record. I currently attend a university and I'm really worried about how this might affect my future employment prospects.
I'm was planning to tell the court and be totally straight-up and honest. I was simply hungry and had no other choice. But now I'm reading that it's not always a good idea to plead guilty during an arraignment.
I would really like some advice on how to deal with this. If you have any thoughts, please let me know. Thanks in advance!
Re: Caught Stealing Food from a Grocery Store, Petty Theft, PC 484
Plead not guilty. Ask for a public defender. Ask about first time offenders programs.
Expect court costs, fines. The store will also be sending a Civil Demand for money also, this needs to be paid.
Next time: Food bank.
Re: Caught Stealing Food from a Grocery Store, Petty Theft, PC 484
I'm sure the court will understand that you could have obtained food from a homeless shelter, church or other organization temporarily. You are simply a thief who finally was caught. One wonders how you will be attending college in a month, if you have no money now. You might reconsider wasting tax payer support for college. You likely will not be getting a good job if you graduate.
Re: Caught Stealing Food from a Grocery Store, Petty Theft, PC 484
Out of curiosity what exactly did you steal? You say you had no choice and was hungry, so I would hope you since you say you stole $5 you at least tried to steal 10 packs of ramen noodles or a big box of rice, or something along those lines that will kept you fed for a period of time, if you stole for instance a bottle of soda and a bag of chips you trying to play the sympathy card is only going to cause more damage.
Best advice you will receive on a free legal board is to get a lawyer and follow there advice, and you probably should stock up on ramen noodles, this is going to cost you quite a bit of money to get out of!
--BUFF
Re: Caught Stealing Food from a Grocery Store, Petty Theft, PC 484
Make sure to save any documentation you have to prove that you had no money at the time, like an dated overdraft notice from the bank, or something of that nature. If you have to call the bank and have them print out something showing your card had a hold on it, or whatever, do so.
It might be worth noting that they may look more favorably if this is presented as a situation where you've never had this happen before, never been homeless before or anything like that, and therefore scared and unsure of what to do. Someone who has never had to go beg for change or go to a shelter and ask for food, probably doesn't think of that as their first option when they're hungry, and lets face it, the majority of americans have no idea what real hunger is like so they tend to be pretty unsympathetic or ignorant until they experience desperation personally. It's not unusual for a middle class family to be struck by a major financial disaster and find themselves suddenly poor, and have no clue what to do or where to go for help and almost in a state of disbelief that this could be happening. Like someone else said, it would also probably look better if you stole real food, and not candy bars or something like that.
Also second on the asking for a public defender. Can't you request legal counsel be provided BEFORE you have to make your plead? If not that's rather screwy, how is Joe Average supposed to know how they should plead?
Re: Caught Stealing Food from a Grocery Store, Petty Theft, PC 484
You just gave me freaky visions of someone furiously stuffing 15 cent ramen in every portion of the anatomy. That was just wrong. What you stole is a valid question. I cannot imagine any shopper at the store, who would not have fronted 15 cetns for a package of ramen noodles to anyone claiming to be broke. You literally could survive by approaching 2 people a day for 30 cents.
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Quoting
Bo_Buff
Out of curiosity what exactly did you steal? You say you had no choice and was hungry, so I would hope you since you say you stole $5 you at least tried to steal 10 packs of ramen noodles or a big box of rice, or something along those lines that will kept you fed for a period of time, if you stole for instance a bottle of soda and a bag of chips you trying to play the sympathy card is only going to cause more damage.
Best advice you will receive on a free legal board is to get a lawyer and follow there advice, and you probably should stock up on ramen noodles, this is going to cost you quite a bit of money to get out of!
--BUFF
Re: Caught Stealing Food from a Grocery Store, Petty Theft, PC 484
Thanks y'all for your replies!
I took a sandwich and an energy bar, and also used the few dollars I had to buy some bananas and carrots. It was around 9 in the afternoon so most stores were closing and I had just gotten into town by a bus to go on a camping trip with some friends a few days earlier. The day before I tried to withdraw a bunch of money from an ATM to pay rent but my account got locked because of suspicions activity. I'll talk to the bank and see if they can provide me with anything to prove this.
I'm not entirely sure if you can request counsel prior to the trial. There are some law firms that provide it for free over the phone or internet but that's a one time thing. From the information I've gathered it's never a good idea to plead guilty during the arraignment so I'm just going to plead not guilty or stand mute and ask for an attorney.
The money that I'm going to have to pay isn't a concern to me, I really just want to get this dropped or lowered to an infraction. I really don't want this on my record!
Re: Caught Stealing Food from a Grocery Store, Petty Theft, PC 484
At the risk of sounding obvious, the time to worry about having a crime on your record is before you commit it.
Re: Caught Stealing Food from a Grocery Store, Petty Theft, PC 484
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nickjoh
The money that I'm going to have to pay isn't a concern to me, I really just want to get this dropped or lowered to an infraction. I really don't want this on my record!
If you have enough money to not be concerned about costs then why didn't you simply use that money to pay for your sandwich & energy bar? And as previously mentioned they could ask you in court what you were planning on doing the next time you got hungry since a sandwich is a one time meal, after you digested the sandwich and got hungry again were you gonna lift another one? Haven't you ever heard of a "Wish Sandwich" as in "I wish I could afford to put some meat on it" A loaf of bread costs about a $1 and that could get you by until you had your bank issues in order. These are the types of questions you have to be prepared for unless you shell out some good cash for a good lawyer who will do the talking on your behalf....
--BUFF
Re: Caught Stealing Food from a Grocery Store, Petty Theft, PC 484
The problem you have is your excuse doesn't hold water. See the ramen references previously put forth. You could have bought a lot of food if you had not spent your money on the veggies. Stealing the sandwich and bar was a matter of convenience not need. Whether your bank account was locked or not, you could have bought enough ramen to last a week.
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Quoting
nickjoh
Thanks y'all for your replies!
I took a sandwich and an energy bar, and also used the few dollars I had to buy some bananas and carrots. It was around 9 in the afternoon so most stores were closing and I had just gotten into town by a bus to go on a camping trip with some friends a few days earlier. The day before I tried to withdraw a bunch of money from an ATM to pay rent but my account got locked because of suspicions activity. I'll talk to the bank and see if they can provide me with anything to prove this.
I'm not entirely sure if you can request counsel prior to the trial. There are some law firms that provide it for free over the phone or internet but that's a one time thing. From the information I've gathered it's never a good idea to plead guilty during the arraignment so I'm just going to plead not guilty or stand mute and ask for an attorney.
The money that I'm going to have to pay isn't a concern to me, I really just want to get this dropped or lowered to an infraction. I really don't want this on my record!