Accused of Shoplifting at a Self-Serve Scanner

My question involves criminal records for the state of: MD
So before my question, I'll give a bit of background. I've spent the entire night studying for my Life Insurance Producer exam early next week. I finished up my coursework and did a damn fine job on the practice exams. I took a shower and headed to Giant to get some ingredients for a stroganoff and rotisserie chicken. I happened to pick up my brother who got off the bus as I was driving out.

We got into giant and went down the list grabbing what was needed. I was really out of it, black eyes like a crack addict and messy, frizzy hair. Got to the chicken, they only had one good one, which was leaking, but it would have to do. We head over to the checkout, and since there was only 2 cashiers that were busy with lines of senior citizens, I headed to the self checkout. I went through scanning everything fairly quickly as I just want to go home, make food, and sleep. Finally got to the chicken and root beer on the bottom. I picked up both and dragged them across the scanner, trying my best to not get chicken juices over everything.

I was CERTAIN I heard it beep two times, but apparently I was wrong, because as soon as I start to wheel away security comes up and asks me if I payed for the chicken. I say "I'm fairly sure I did, yes" or something along those lines. He asks for my receipt and we look at it together. Lo and behold, no chicken! He asked me for my ID and I gave him my drivers license. I was kinda shocked and stood there, mumbling in Russian how I could have missed that. He finishes in about 15 minutes (dont know what he was writing that long) and says I can go. I ask him if I can buy the chicken and that I'll pay for it as many times as he wants. He says "no, you tried to steal it and I caught you". I assure him it was an honest mistake and I'm sorry I didn't scan it through, even though I probably look like I would steal a chicken. He then starts going off about how my brother told me to pay for the chicken and I said no and how I clearly didn't scan it and thought I could get away with it. Ok this is where I start to get a bit mad, while tired and in shock. I asked my brother in Russian to go get cream cheese for the stroganoff because I forgot it, he said which one, I said whichever. Somehow this meant "no I'm not paying for this chicken"? Its a ****ing 6 dollar chicken, the mushrooms cost more. These are blatant lies coming from him. My bro says to he didn't say anything like that and the sec says "Ya, sure". Some stupid back and forth happened where I said I need to buy a chicken and he tells me to get another one, and when I do try he confronts me and says I need to leave and come back another day. He said he will call the police otherwise and review the tapes and I tell him to go on and do it, because he'll see it was a mistake. At this point I'm cotton mouthy from the anger and shock (I assume adrenaline) so I'm stuttering over words a bit. We then go back and forth again where he says he doesn't want to call anyone and I should just leave and me saying I need a chicken. Eventually I give up and leave because I'm just exhausted and can't speak properly.

Thanks for reading that, it was a bit long but I wanted to be sure that everything that could be in the sec footage is explained, now this is where the question comes in. I assume a 6 dollar chicken is a misdemeanor class C from what I read online. The thing is, Life Insurance Producers are expected to maintain spotless records to insure they can work as a fiduciary as well as not coerce clients. The interview was mainly a personality based one, not a skill one. Everything that happened, including me not scanning the chicken accidentally (but still dragging it over the scanner) as well as my conversation with my brother in Russian, can be seen in the security footage (maybe not heard? I am not sure). Is this misdemeanor charge going to strew me out of a job I've spent a month getting ready for? Can employers see class C misdemeanor charges? How long do misdemeanors stay on my record, life? Is there anything I can do to challenge it? I doubt I can challenge anything because I was factually stealing, just not intentionally like he was accusing. If I can, could I request security footage from giant? I'm ok with paying any sort of fee or whatever, but I'd rather not get "was caught stealing a chicken from Giant" as the only thing on my record, since that might cost me this job and any other job in LI. Any help is appreciated, sorry I couldn't make the story more interesting. Thanks.

Maryland doesn't have class C misdemeanors. Shoplifting under $100 is just theft and can get you 90 days / 500 fine. Yes employers WILL see that on background checks and YES your insurance licensing is likely to also be affected. You can't just buy your way out of things once the theft happens.

Were you charged (i.e., did the store call the police)?

What you need badly is an attorney. Not only do you NOT want the CONVICTION on your record, you don't even want a deferral as such is considered the same as a conviction on the insurance licensing application.

Since the police were not involved, its highly unlikely that the store will get them involved at this point. You may get a civil demand letter from the store's legal department asking you to pay a civil penalty, but that is likely to be as far as it goes. You have to actually be arrested by the police and then a DA has to decide to prosecute, and then you have to be convicted before you would have a misdemeanor on your record.

And to be honest, I suspect that the guy at least half believed you because it was insane for you to keep insisting that you needed a chicken...and to think that you could send your brother back to buy cream cheese.

Stay out of that store from now on. Find somewhere else to buy your groceries. Do not do anything else regarding this matter except to pay the civil demand if you receive one.

That's a completely fowl thing to do.

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Quoting Dogmatique

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That's a completely fowl thing to do.

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You went there...shaking my head...you actually went there...:cool:

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Quoting flyingron

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Maryland doesn't have class C misdemeanors. Shoplifting under $100 is just theft and can get you 90 days / 500 fine. Yes employers WILL see that on background checks and YES your insurance licensing is likely to also be affected. You can't just buy your way out of things once the theft happens.

Were you charged (i.e., did the store call the police)?

What you need badly is an attorney. Not only do you NOT want the CONVICTION on your record, you don't even want a deferral as such is considered the same as a conviction on the insurance licensing application.

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No, there were no police involved thankfully, If this escalates to anything I may need to get one, even thought I don't really have the money for legal fees at the moment. My mistake on the misdemeanor then. Thanks.

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Quoting llworking

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Since the police were not involved, its highly unlikely that the store will get them involved at this point. You may get a civil demand letter from the store's legal department asking you to pay a civil penalty, but that is likely to be as far as it goes. You have to actually be arrested by the police and then a DA has to decide to prosecute, and then you have to be convicted before you would have a misdemeanor on your record.

And to be honest, I suspect that the guy at least half believed you because it was insane for you to keep insisting that you needed a chicken...and to think that you could send your brother back to buy cream cheese.

Stay out of that store from now on. Find somewhere else to buy your groceries. Do not do anything else regarding this matter except to pay the civil demand if you receive one.

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Thanks for that information, hopefully the penalty will be it. I admit I was a bit erratic with the chicken, given how shaken I was. Also, I may have misspoke, the cream cheese was during checkout, that is the part of the conversation the sec guy thought was about stealing the chicken, when it clearly wasn't. I may have to steer clear of that store not just out of consequence, but sheer embarrassment anyway. Thank you.

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Quoting amiskrewedoverachicken?

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No, there were no police involved thankfully, If this escalates to anything I may need to get one, even thought I don't really have the money for legal fees at the moment. My mistake on the misdemeanor then. Thanks.






Thanks for that information, hopefully the penalty will be it. I admit I was a bit erratic with the chicken, given how shaken I was. Also, I may have misspoke, the cream cheese was during checkout, that is the part of the conversation the sec guy thought was about stealing the chicken, when it clearly wasn't. I may have to steer clear of that store not just out of consequence, but sheer embarrassment anyway. Thank you.

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Dude, "a bit erratic" is a serious understatement...LOL. Which is why its likely that the guy half believed you, and you might not even get a civil demand.

So I decided to bite the bullet and ask management. I can't sleep worrying about this. I called up that Giant and (through combined wait times of ~30min) got to the manager on duty. I briefly explained what happened and was told that I will get a civil demand notice and no criminal charges if I pay it. Looks like I am still eligible to sell Insurance, thank god. Thanks for all of the replies, even the sarcastic ones.

PS: ok, fine, I was acting VERY erratic, crazed even. It would be quite interesting to learn how think rationally while completely exhausted yet hyped up on adrenaline. Well, if it helped me get out of a theft charge that could have ruined my life, I guess I really can't complain.

Thanks for the update. It's good to hear that things worked out reasonably well.

I will add this: I've seen those scanners beep when they didn't properly process a scanned item. I've seen them scan an item, then display an error message about an "unexpected item" being sent to the bagging area over the item that was just scanned. I've seen people hear a beep or message from the scanner next to them or across from them, and believe it came from their own scanner. The technology is far from perfect, and although the self-serve scanners probably do create opportunities for shoplifters that would be diminished by having cashiers, stores should take the problems of the machines into consideration when accusing people of shoplifting, particularly when a review of the tape shows that the customer tried to scan the item and no error message was displayed suggesting that an unscanned item was send to the bagging area or placed in a bag (depending on where the scale is located).

We are only hearing one side of the story. I would love to hear the loss prevention guy's side.

Either way, they told you that they aren't prosecuting you, so that's that. Be more careful in the future.

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Quoting amiskrewedoverachicken?

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I briefly explained what happened and was told that I will get a civil demand notice and no criminal charges if I pay it.

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That civil demand letter will demand a large amount of money from you, and the security cameras clearly show that you were trying to scan the item. If I were you, I would not pay anything. If they try to prosecute you, you can sue them for having faulty scanners and being negligent.

My local grocery store just got rid of its self-service scanners, and this may be reason why.

And, if that security guard claims that you told your brother that you were going to steal (when the security guard doesn't even understand Russian), then you can sue the security guard for defamation.

I understand that you want to put this incident behind you and that you are concerned about your career. But these people are bullies, and somebody has to stand up to them.

Defamation is a non-issue.

I don't agree, John_2B.

Giant isn't going to pursue criminal charges at this point if they haven't done so already. They will send several letters demanding civil restitution but it won't be much. They're limited to actual damages or to just take the default of 2x the value of the item (minimum $50). They'll threaten civil action if you don't comply. Don't know how serious the threat is.

The video will PROVE nothing (at least NOTHING that is helpful to the defendent) by the way. I'm quite familiar with the piece of crap self checkouts at the Giant (of Landover) chain. There's no way you thought you scanned something but didn't. After you self scan it you must place the item on the conveyor (the stupid register even says out loud "Place Your Chicken On the Belt." The thing then moves through some electric eyes to verify it's about the right size and then down to the bagging area. If it fails it runs everything backwards and tells you to start again. There's NO WAY the defendant didn't know whether he scanned the thing or not. He'd have to take the chicken and bag it without running it down the conveyor like he did ALL THE OTHER ITEMS that were successfully scanned.

I assume he's not using the SCAN IT guns or apps because they operate completely differently (and they are reconciled differently) from described.

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Quoting flyingron

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I don't agree, John_2B.

Giant isn't going to pursue criminal charges at this point if they haven't done so already. They will send several letters demanding civil restitution but it won't be much. They're limited to actual damages or to just take the default of 2x the value of the item (minimum $50). They'll threaten civil action if you don't comply. Don't know how serious the threat is.

The video will PROVE nothing (at least NOTHING that is helpful to the defendent) by the way. I'm quite familiar with the piece of crap self checkouts at the Giant (of Landover) chain. There's no way you thought you scanned something but didn't. After you self scan it you must place the item on the conveyor (the stupid register even says out loud "Place Your Chicken On the Belt." The thing then moves through some electric eyes to verify it's about the right size and then down to the bagging area. If it fails it runs everything backwards and tells you to start again. There's NO WAY the defendant didn't know whether he scanned the thing or not. He'd have to take the chicken and bag it without running it down the conveyor like he did ALL THE OTHER ITEMS that were successfully scanned.

I assume he's not using the SCAN IT guns or apps because they operate completely differently (and they are reconciled differently) from described.

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Not all Giant stores work that way. I have been in some that don't. Admittedly its not frequent as it has only been when I was traveling, but not all of them work that way. That is some pretty big gun technology and I suspect they only use that in some areas. It would be cost prohibitive to use it across the board.

Even Wallyworld doesn't use that kind of big gun tech.

Personally, I think that the OP was foolish to call the store manager. I think that there was a chance that he wouldn't have even received a civil demand based on the absurdity of the whole thing. However, by calling the store manager he pretty much guaranteed that a civil demand will happen. I do disagree however about your assessment of how much the civil demand will be. Its more likely to be a couple of hundred dollars than 2x the value of the item. Most large retailers have a flat amount they use for their civil demands.

Seriously, that loss prevention officer had to be laughing inside based on the OP insisting that he still had to buy the chicken. That alone was reasonable doubt that the OP was deliberately trying to steal that chicken. The LP probably thought that the OP was higher than a kite and not even competent enough to try to steal it...LOL.

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Quoting llworking

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Not all Giant stores work that way. I have been in some that don't. Admittedly its not frequent as it has only been when I was traveling, but not all of them work that way. That is some pretty big gun technology and I suspect they only use that in some areas. It would be cost prohibitive to use it across the board.

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Are you sure you are in Giant of Landover territory? Giant of Carlise is a different company historically (though they now coincidentally have the same parent company).
Giant (Landover) has used this inane system since they rolled out self checkouts. I've never seen otherwise.

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Quoting flyingron

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Are you sure you are in Giant of Landover territory? Giant of Carlise is a different company historically (though they now coincidentally have the same parent company).
Giant (Landover) has used this inane system since they rolled out self checkouts. I've never seen otherwise.

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I have no idea. I just know that when traveling I have been in Giant stores that have more wally world type of self checkouts, and the type of self checkouts you are describing are seriously high cost tech.

No they're seriously braindead and low tech. They're abysmal first generation hacks. Most of the other chains in the area use weight based verification on the self scan.
Even the latter is going to gripe a lot if he put something weighing 5 pounds in the bagging area without scanning it.

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Quoting John_28

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That civil demand letter will demand a large amount of money from you, and the security cameras clearly show that you were trying to scan the item. If I were you, I would not pay anything. If they try to prosecute you, you can sue them for having faulty scanners and being negligent.

My local grocery store just got rid of its self-service scanners, and this may be reason why.

And, if that security guard claims that you told your brother that you were going to steal (when the security guard doesn't even understand Russian), then you can sue the security guard for defamation.

I understand that you want to put this incident behind you and that you are concerned about your career. But these people are bullies, and somebody has to stand up to them.

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Regardless of intent, I do feel it is my fault, AT LEAST partially, for not double checking that I scanned the item. I was also considering the defamation thing, but I don't think that is going to fly in court without audio of the incident, which I doubt I can get. While I'd rather not dish out large amounts of money, being in between jobs and all, I made a mistake and am ready to pay for it.

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Quoting flyingron

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I don't agree, John_2B.

Giant isn't going to pursue criminal charges at this point if they haven't done so already. They will send several letters demanding civil restitution but it won't be much. They're limited to actual damages or to just take the default of 2x the value of the item (minimum $50). They'll threaten civil action if you don't comply. Don't know how serious the threat is.

The video will PROVE nothing (at least NOTHING that is helpful to the defendent) by the way. I'm quite familiar with the piece of crap self checkouts at the Giant (of Landover) chain. There's no way you thought you scanned something but didn't. After you self scan it you must place the item on the conveyor (the stupid register even says out loud "Place Your Chicken On the Belt." The thing then moves through some electric eyes to verify it's about the right size and then down to the bagging area. If it fails it runs everything backwards and tells you to start again. There's NO WAY the defendant didn't know whether he scanned the thing or not. He'd have to take the chicken and bag it without running it down the conveyor like he did ALL THE OTHER ITEMS that were successfully scanned.

I assume he's not using the SCAN IT guns or apps because they operate completely differently (and they are reconciled differently) from described.

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I've never seen Giant self-checkouts like that. Ours are very simple, they ask you to scan in your membership thing for savings or phone number and then to scan items. That's it. Once you scan an item, it just beeps at you and you're on to the next one. There is no "conveyor" and the bagging area doesnt check anything either. After you finish, it asks you how many store bags you're using (I used two at the time from the store, that I payed 10c for) and then charges you. Please do not assume that every Giant works the same way yours does.

What county were you in?

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Quoting llworking

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Not all Giant stores work that way. I have been in some that don't. Admittedly its not frequent as it has only been when I was traveling, but not all of them work that way. That is some pretty big gun technology and I suspect they only use that in some areas. It would be cost prohibitive to use it across the board.

Even Wallyworld doesn't use that kind of big gun tech.

Personally, I think that the OP was foolish to call the store manager. I think that there was a chance that he wouldn't have even received a civil demand based on the absurdity of the whole thing. However, by calling the store manager he pretty much guaranteed that a civil demand will happen. I do disagree however about your assessment of how much the civil demand will be. Its more likely to be a couple of hundred dollars than 2x the value of the item. Most large retailers have a flat amount they use for their civil demands.

Seriously, that loss prevention officer had to be laughing inside based on the OP insisting that he still had to buy the chicken. That alone was reasonable doubt that the OP was deliberately trying to steal that chicken. The LP probably thought that the OP was higher than a kite and not even competent enough to try to steal it...LOL.

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Maybe you're right, but like I previously mentioned, it was my mistake, and they rightly stopped me and prevented a loss to their store, that otherwise would have happened. If I have to pay for it, I will. If it counts for anything, I didn't use any specific details, just a general "oh I mis-scanned something, was stopped by LP, what happens?" kind of thing. From what I've read online and here on the forums (I may be wrong), the CD will, most likely, be a flat amount plus x2-3 of the item's worth. My eyes were not red, just darker than night, he might have thought I was on something stronger, or just insane....

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Quoting bam!

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What county were you in?

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Potomac, MD. MOCO

Your civil demand be $50 or 2x the amount of the merchandise, which ever is more.

The LP would have to drive to the commissioner in order to charge you with theft under $100. I don't see that happening.

Was it a manager or LP?

Also, no one is debating the validity of the stop, it was justified, however you are not screwed over a chicken.

I think the store should also take responsibility for mistakes such as this one. You clearly had money to pay for the chicken and that was your intent. Those self service machines have their issues just like computers. Why should customers always be at fault if the machine did not properly scan the item?

You gave the receipt when asked and the store should have just let you pay for the chicken since that was your intent. I would call your local Weights and Balances Department and explain what happened. Scanner Fraud can be such as the scanner not picking up the barcode since the person entering it in could have been one number off. There are other technical issues beyond your control.

I would be calling Giant Corporate and even hire a lawyer if needed. I think if a store wants to keep customers they should have just accepted you made a mistake and let you pay for the $6 chicken and be on your merry way.

I've had an issue with the self-service checkout machine and it did not scan an item and I was not even threatened with shoplifting the attendant just looked at my receipt and asked me if I still wanted the item. I said yes and paid for it and was on my way The manager even apologized for the faulty scanner and said it does happen and even helped me to make sure it scanned properly.

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Quoting Dogmatique

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That's a completely fowl thing to do.

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Then got plucked!