Charged with Theft After Leaving the Store

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Maryland. Say somebody goes to a store, they buy something then leave. A couple hours later, the police knock on their door saying the store has contacted them saying you stole things. They say they have video footage of you stealing but you know you didn't conceal anything on camera. What evidence could they have and what will happen?

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Quoting MBlake

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They say they have video footage of you stealing

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Quoting MBlake

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What evidence could they have

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Would you have a question that you do not already have the answer to?

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Quoting MBlake

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and what will happen?

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The crystal ball is out for calibration........please hold for the next available fortune teller.......

You missed one of the cameras. And you thought you were so smart. Crime does not pay. Now you have to pay.

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Quoting MBlake

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They say they have video footage of you stealing but you know you didn't conceal anything on camera.

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That implies you did steal. When I was working loss prevention, I had cameras you'd never know were cameras. Had perps stare directly at them and never realize it.

This will get interesting if you concealed the stuff in the bathroom...

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Quoting sniper

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This will get interesting if you concealed the stuff in the bathroom...

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if they concealed it in the bathroom, wouldn’t it still be in the bathroom?

and why does everybody call it a bathroom when there are no facilities to bathe in the typical non-residential restroom (and sometimes referred to as a lavatory although even that is considered an improper term in some groups)?

a bathroom has a bath (or shower) in it

a toilet is, obviously, a fixture within most bathrooms but is also used to reference a room where one would find a toilet and, generally, a sink but no bathtub or shower.

a lavatory (lav a tor ee in American English; lav a tree in British English) is often used to refer to the room where one would find a toilet but lending confusion to the situation, it also is synonymous to sink, which is the fixture where one would wash their hands after using the toilet (at least hopefully they would)


so why do we call a bathroom a bathroom when you can’t bathe there?

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Quoting jk

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so why do we call a bathroom a bathroom when you can’t bathe there?

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Haha. You sir, have never worked retail. Give a homeless person a sink or toilet and they can come out clean. Your employees will hate you when you send them in after you clean up!

When I worked retail , there was a manager in another who gets an A for effort, she installed surveillance cameras in the bathroom to catch thieves. She unfortunately got a $0 for a paycheck because she failed to think of the bigger picture.

A lot of places have signs "Restroom". Never considered resting in that sorta locale.

Free time and semantics this morning J? :) Elimination Station. Void-n-Move Room. Water Closet. All rendered moot in an urgent situation by "Where's the shitter?"

https://goo.gl/images/k1vpyzhttps://goo.gl/images/k1vpyzhttps://goo.gl/images/Tawhfp

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Quoting souperdave

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A lot of places have signs "Restroom". Never considered resting in that sorta locale.

Free time and semantics this morning J? Elimination Station. Void-n-Move Room. Water Closet. All rendered moot in an urgent situation by "Where's the shitter?"

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And the most horrifying response;



https://www.expertlaw.com/forums/web...20c7/imagejpeg

The store doesn't have anybody on camera concealing items, that i know for a fact because it didn't happen

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Quoting jk

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and why does everybody call it a bathroom when there are no facilities to bathe in the typical non-residential restroom (and sometimes referred to as a lavatory although even that is considered an improper term in some groups)?

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Not everyone does call a room with toilet and sink but no tub/shower a bathroom, and the term used most commonly seems to vary from one part of the country to the next, much like in some areas the preferred term for a carbonated beverage is soda and in others it is pop. Where I am most people use the term restroom; the word bathroom is not much used. In any event, generally people understand what is meant regardless of whether the word bathroom or restroom is used, so I don’t see that it much matters.

And the term lavatory? I heard it a lot when I visited England many years ago. I can't remember even one instance of hearing that term used in the U.S. I'm sure someone has used it, but it would sound odd to most American ears, I think. :D

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Quoting MBlake

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The store doesn't have anybody on camera concealing items, that i know for a fact because it didn't happen

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The way you worded your OP made that sufficiently ambiguous in a way that thieves have been know to do in the past. Heck, this statement is still ambiguous. What didn't happen? You didn't steal or you still think they couldn't have gotten it on camera. Next time say "They couldn't have me on camera stealing anything because I didn't steal anything."

If you didn't do it, perhaps you were making movements that made them think you did. In which case, if they can't say what you stole and where you put it....they shouldn't have called the cops. That or the cops should have told them it was a waste of time when reviewing the footage. Wonder how they tracked you down? If you have been or are charged, say nothing without an attorney. Actually, hopefully you said nothing when the cops came calling in the first place.

"Lavatory" equals place where one washes, technically. In plumbing terms, it's a sink. The term is extended to cover the room in general as bathroom is. I most commonly remember it used in schools.

Then there's always the "loo" if you're in the UK, but toilets and WC are often used.

Restroom is another odd word. Not much rest goes on in them (well, in the men's rooms at least).

But as free9points out, arguing that you committed the crime in a place where you don't think you could have been observed is a lousy defense.
You need to keep your mouth shut and see if the state has any actual evidence that brings things to the level of a charge. A cop is allowed to lie to you, by the way, to convince you to incriminate yourself.

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Quoting Taxing Matters

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Not everyone does call a room with toilet and sink but no tub/shower a bathroom, and the term used most commonly seems to vary from one part of the country to the next, much like in some areas the preferred term for a carbonated beverage is soda and in others it is pop. Where I am most people use the term restroom; the word bathroom is not much used. In any event, generally people understand what is meant regardless of whether the word bathroom or restroom is used, so I don’t see that it much matters.

And the term lavatory? I heard it a lot when I visited England many years ago. I can't remember even one instance of hearing that term used in the U.S. I'm sure someone has used it, but it would sound odd to most American ears, I think. :D

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When in grade school (early to mid 60’s) I had several teachers that used the term lavatory. Not sure why but they do appear (upon restrospection) to be the few that have. Given there are many here that have education equal to or greater than that of a typical teacher, I can’t even suggest it is based on one’s level of education.

As far as it not mattering much; it was obvious this was a go nowhere thread and I wanted to poke sniper about his reference to hiding the merchandise in the bathroom (which would mean it was left there and not removed from the store). One thing led to another and, well, here we are.

Anyway, being in construction as I am, the room where one goes to relieve themselves in the manner being discussed here, it would typically be called a toilet, obviously not to me confused with the fixture called a toilet (we all hope since that could end up with a very wet person or a very messy floor). So, basically, one would visit the toilet to use the toilet.


So are you a soda guy or a pop guy?

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Quoting jk

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When in grade school (early to mid 60’s) I had several teachers that used the term lavatory. Not sure why but they do appear (upon restrospection) to be the few that have. Given there are many here that have education equal to or greater than that of a typical teacher, I can’t even suggest it is based on one’s level of education.

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I was in grade school in the 60's and that term is familiar to me from back then as well.

As far as the soda vs pop bit? It was always "pop" when I was visiting the Chicago family and "coke" when I was at home, no matter what flavor of "coke" it was.

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Quoting MBlake

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The store doesn't have anybody on camera concealing items, that i know for a fact because it didn't happen

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If there are cameras, I'm sure they have lots of people on camera concealing items.

did you mean they don't have YOU on camera concealing items?

Yes. They do not have me on camera stealing items. They claim they do, but I know 100% they don't.

Yes. They do not have me on camera concealing items. They claim they do, but I know 100% they don't

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Quoting jk

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So are you a soda guy or a pop guy?

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For me it’s always been soda. Which is weird because I grew up in the west and midwest where most people call it pop. So when I used the term soda the other kids looked at me funny. :p Then I moved to the northeast after college for awhile and found that they tend to use the word soda (California and Arizona do, too, apparently). And looking into it, I see that the most common term used in the south is coke (even when the drink is a brand other than Coke). Probably because Coca-Cola is headquartered in Atlanta. There is actually a University study from a few years ago in which they broke this down by county and created a great map that highlights which terms are most common in each. A very interesting look at the regional differences that exist in this country. You'll find the map on a Huff Post news article.

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Quoting MBlake

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Yes. They do not have me on camera stealing items. They claim they do, but I know 100% they don't.

Yes. They do not have me on camera concealing items. They claim they do, but I know 100% they don't

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You are making a very big deal over your surety that there is nothing on camera of you concealing items, but you are very carefully avoiding saying that you did not steal anything. Only your belief that they don't have a recording of it.