Wrongly Accused of Shoplifting in Arizona

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Arizona

So I am going to start by saying by saying what we were accused of. Me and my aunt on Christmas eve were accused of shop lifting about 550$ give or take worth of stuff. They wouldn't tell us what the actual price was, nor would they show us the video they claimed to have. We came home and looked up the prices ourselves.

Anyway, here's what happened, our side of the story. We got the wrong size on a bunch of clothes, and a couple of the games weren't the right characters or whatever. My Uncle, handed us a stack of receipts and said, "The receipt should be in here somewhere, but if you're just exchanging you don't need it either way. Or just ask for a gift card, Wal-Mart does that." So we didn't think anything of it. The merchandise was loaded into pre-bought Wal-Mart bags, and took it to Wal-Mart.

Well, we went in and I went to go get the few groceries we needed, while my Aunt went to get the sizes we needed. I got done before she was done and went and found her, we walked around and looked for items that were what we needed for at least close to them. On our way to check out we saw the customer service line and decided it was took long and went down a random isle and put the stuff back. we went and paid for our groceries and were on our way out to our car when we were stopped by two women and two police officers (That weren't sheriff's). One women escorted my Aunt and the other Escorted me, both the officers kept their distances but still walked with us.

The women that walked with me, first asked me if I knew why she stopped us, and I told her I don't know. Then she began to tell me that honesty is the best policy, and that if I didn't confess to steal the items I will be going to jail. I told her that I didn't steal anything, and that I wasn't going to confess to anything I didn't do and that if she's going to accuse me of anything that I want my lawyer.

For the next two hour were spent trying to get me and my Aunt to talk, the only thing we tried to tell was the truth, but they kept telling us that the stuff wasn't in the receipts. We again tried to explain what my uncle had said and they wouldn't listen kept telling us they had us on video and that another customer saw us sticking stuff from the shelf into the bags. That's when the Sheriff's showed up and read us our Miranda rights. After that we tried to explain to him what had happened and he was really nice, made sure we were able to tell our side of the story. Then told us we could go home and try and find the other receipts, and that we have until Sunday. But we came home and cant find them, and I don't think we will. My aunt has five kids, and I am a college student neither of us have time to keep us with that kind of stuff.

We went back with as many receipt as we could find, and they wouldn't even look at them. This time the manager, the two women were there, and the two police officers were there. But the Sheriff was gone, told us he left for the night. We asked for another sheriff then and they wouldn't call anyone, and then the police officer started yell at us! Told my aunt that she was a horrible mother for taking her daughter into the store and steal things, and that I should be ashamed of myself to allowing it to happen, guess they didn't know that I am not her daughter, but her niece.

We left again, about in tears because those were Christmas presents, but most of all we don't know what's going to happen. We didn't do anything wrong and was wondering should we get an attorney? Are they going to come back Sunday to arrest us? I know me and Aunt are very scared.

You need to be on the phone setting up a consultation with a Criminal Defense Attorney.....today.

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Quoting PandorasBox

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You need to be on the phone setting up a consultation with a Criminal Defense Attorney.....today.

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I agree, but honestly, you and your aunt did this to yourselves.

Your aunt should have gone straight to the service desk and returned the items before setting foot in any other part of the store...and if she decided that the line was too long, she should have gone straight from the service desk back to the car and put the items in the car, before going to any other part of the store.

And first step would have been to immediately see the Greeter and get your items tagged that you were bringing them in with you when you arrived. That is standard procedure at every WalMart I've ever been to.

Sorry, but I am one of the most naïve people here (ie: I believe a lot of what the posters here say) and I don't believe this story for a minute. You both need a defense attorney, and you need one now.

You also need to quit stealing because it's just going to get you into more and more trouble as time goes on.

I can understand misplacing a receipt.....but....with a lot of merchandise, I would make damned sure the items were on the receipt.

Stores here: Return without receipt = pull out your drivers license, your info is recorded, you get a Store Gift Card. Even exchanging the wrong (unopened) shade of make-up for the right shade is included.

I agree - this is the fault of you and your aunt. You enter the store with your returns, have the greeter tag them, you go immediately to Customer Service.

I'm sure being detained and questioned, and the police called - there is significant video to back up WalMart's detaining you and having police involved.

You can expect that you need a lawyer, you can both expect court costs and fines, possible jail time, possible anti-shoplifting class, possible community service. A Civil Demand letter from the store, which you should pay asap. You can expect that you are also banned from any and all Wal-Mart stores nationwide for life - enter one, face Criminal Trespass charges.

Mmm, I dunno, Christina. I'm usually wildly skeptical of such stories, but the Husband was a retail store manager for 25 years, and we've seen it all. This scenario is shockingly common.

But, I do agree that our friend here needs a Criminal Defense attorney, and that right quickly. This is not a DIY project by any means.

One thing here is indisputable. College is a waste of time and money. You need a lawyer. I do not foresee a good outcome here. The fact is you are guilty as a matter of law based on the concealment issue, regardless of any other claims.

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13-1805. Shoplifting; detaining suspect; defense to wrongful detention; civil action by merchant; public services; classification

A. A person commits shoplifting if, while in an establishment in which merchandise is displayed for sale, the person knowingly obtains such goods of another with the intent to deprive that person of such goods by:

1. Removing any of the goods from the immediate display or from any other place within the establishment without paying the purchase price; or

2. Charging the purchase price of the goods to a fictitious person or any person without that person's authority; or

3. Paying less than the purchase price of the goods by some trick or artifice such as altering, removing, substituting or otherwise disfiguring any label, price tag or marking; or

4. Transferring the goods from one container to another; or

5. Concealment.

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If the correct procedure were to go down a random aisle and take matters into your own hands, the lines wouldn't be all that long, now would they?

For the future, you might want to consider that the inconvenience of standing in line is far less than the inconvenience of being arrested.

Thank you all for Advise, I did get a Defense Attorney now.

But there are other things that I wanted to clear up. There were no door person, we did look for one on the way in. And the people at customer service, in the past makes us go get the stuff first anyways we thought we were cutting time by just going to do it ourselves. But now we know not to do that anymore.

And at this point we don't care if we get banned from Wal-mart because were NOT going back ever again.

But Again thank you for all the Advise. Hoping that everyone else can see that were telling the truth.