Almost A Year After The Incident, With No Charges
I was caught shoplifting last May. It's been almost a year. The police came, I had my picture taken, and I signed a form to say that I understood that I would receieve a court date. The LP told me that I would be getting a court date in about two weeks. I had an internship, went to school...and I assume that my dad would've told me if I got mail from court. I truly was ready to accept the fact that I was a criminal, and expected a court date. I never got it.
I am nervous that the mail somehow came, but I never received it. How many times would they notify you? What if there's a warrant for my arrest. But that doesn't make sense. I checked the online court data, and called once to see if they had anything on me. I keep waiting, but is there a possible chance that I "got away with it?" I haven't shoplifted since, and I know it's lame, but I am proud of that. I will never put my face or "life" (I'm a college student) on line ever again.
I am wondering if it's because the store decided not to go through with it since they did not have a reliable witness. Nobody at the store saw me steal. They heard from a customer, and then proceeded to follow me at the store. Therefore, they did not see me take the item or conceal it. They stopped me because of a costumer comment. Does that have anything to do with it?
I don't know. I would really like for this to go away...I'm not sure I can go through the tension I felt the first few months after the incident. I have accpeted the fact that I committed a crime, and would like a shot at graduate school.
Re: almost a year ago: is it possible that their method of "arrest" changed plans to
A lot of things are possible, including a possibility that the prosecutor decided the evidence wasn't sufficient. The passage of that much time makes it much less likely that charges will be filed. (You should again verify with the court that there's nothing under your name.) But we've had people here describe that they were charged days before the statute of limitations was about to run out, so we can't be sure.