Can a shoplifter be prosecuted even without evidence of recovered goods?

My friend confessed that she was shoplifting at a large dept. store and when she left the store, she was in her car when 2 security officers approached her to get out of the car. Instead of getting out of the car, she drove off as they recorded her license plate number. Would police even file a report for this incident even without her identity or stolen merchandise in california? How will they track her down? Is it legal to prosecute her without the recovered goods? Any response is greatly appreciated.

She would not had been stopped if Loss Prevention had not had enough evidence to detain her! The license plate allowed the store a mean to get Police to arrest her. Yes its legal its what ahppens when you shioplift and then run. You dont get away!

baffledone said in another post...."I am 18 in California. A girl was caught shoplifting on camera at a department store. She ran out the store right when I was walking out and this occurred at night time. I left to my car when 2 security men came knocking on my car window thinking that I was the shoplifter??!!! They took my license plate number down as I drove off in a panick. What is the most likely thing that is going to happen to me? My car is registered in my mom's name. Is there enough evidence for the store to prosecute? They do not have cameras in the parking lot so how would I be able to defend that I am not the girl they were looking for?"

So make up your mind which way did it happen? Was it you or your 'friend' that stole?? It pisses me off when people can't get their stories straight.

It was me of course. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. What should I do and what is likely to happen now?

It's going to depend on what proof they do have against you. Simply setting off the alarm is not proof of theft. If they have your (Moms) license plate the police can obviously find out who owns the car. Is your mom going to say it was her? I doubt it, she's going to let you take the wrap for what you did and squeal.

If the store has adequate proof you did take something, yes, you can be prosecuted.

Any idea how many killers there are in prison where the victims body was never found?

You sure sound awfully guilty for claiming innocence though.

Thank you. I will be turning myself in.

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Quoting baffledone

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Thank you. I will be turning myself in.

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Now I didn't say you had to do that either.

It may be the store does not have enough proof to prosecute and you'll never hear anything again. In contrast though, they may be setting up outside your home right now ready to break in the door and arrest you (just kidding, they would knock).

The legally correct thing to do would be to turn yourself in. Now I do not promote breaking the law but you may not actually have anything to worry about. It's simply impossible to tell.

If you are on camera and they attempted to stop you and you ran, there is a pretty good chance they will knock on your door sometime.

Just no way to tell.

Thank you VERY much for your advice. It is nice to know that there are people who will take their time to answer these posts. Thank you.

Police may take thier time on this or even just issue a warrant for your Mother and wait for simple traiffic stop to catch her. Far as evidence goes its likely they have more than alarm going off. Most state laws require you leave the store for it to be a theft. Thsi means they might have you on video committng the theft and exiting store. It was after exit Loss Prevention purused you to your car where you bolted. If license is ran and location found either Police will come to arrest your Mom or at least question her or even worse they will have a warrant issued for her arrest.

In the two states I am in quite often, there is no requirement for the suspect to leave the store for there to be charges. Provable intent is more than adequate to press charges. This could be as simple as placing someting in your pocket or hiding it underneath layers of clothing.


In those cases, video of those actions would be adequate. Now typically the culprit would be detained and the discovery of the merchandise would reinforce the intent.

In the case of the OP, if there is video of taking merchandise and LP followed them out the store and to their car, this could be enough to initiate charges.

OP would have to defend with something such as they dropped the merchandise before leaving the store or such and it would get into credibility issues and how well the OP was surveiled prior to store exit.

If intent is all that is required in California, anything other than the inital observation of concealment may not be neccessary although I suspect it would not be prosecuted due to the difficulties of such a prosecution.

Unless mom and OP are similar in appearance, the police would need more than license plates to affect a warrant. By discovering registered owner, the police would be privy to stats of the owner. If they match the description from LP, they might get away with a warrant for mom. If there are large differences, they would be hard pressed seeking a warrant for an obviously different person. They would more than likely initiate contact with registered owner and go from there.