My question involves criminal law for the state of: Wisconsin
I worked at a retail store that had a ton of issues with lack of training and improper security. I had brought up these issues to management and not very many things were done to prevent them, one of which is a shipping service that lets items be delivered to a persons house from a warehouse. The huge flaw with this system was that you could change the price on anything to anything. For example: if you wanted to buy some paper, the price could be $0.49, $4.99, or $499 if you were not careful. Well mistakes were made by me in a few customer orders.
But that is not the main reason I am being charged with a citation (not a felony or misdemeanor) because the amount I shorted the company was around $400 and since I am a minor, they did not see it fit to give me more than the fine (total amount of about $700 to pay back the company). I changed some prices on items that were shipped to me. Most were legit, others however were not. There is no way for me to prove a majority of these transactions were allowed because we keep the 5 most recent prices and there has been 4 months since some of the incidents occurred.
But there are parts of the case that have me confused. I did not get confronted in person by the Loss Prevention rep., he was in his basement and I talked to him over the phone in the office with my manager listening via speakerphone. Next he did not confront me with an issue right away and acted dumb and asked me to describe everything in detail about the system and how I found that I could change prices. So I did and he called me dumb for thinking he didn't know anything. He then told me I could admit things and so I did, but since this occurred over 4 months, obviously I don't have everything fresh in my mind. He then told me if I didn't start talking he would have me arrested but I honestly could not remember every single detail. So then the cops showed up and informed me that I would be taken to jail for retail theft. I was never told my rights either from "John" (person over the phone) or the two officers. I then had to sign some forms saying that I knew that "John" was not an officer and that I was treated fairly. Then without being read my rights I was handcuffed and taken to the police station to be finger printed and photographed.
Is there anything I can do to either lessen my fine for the citation or prove that some of the transactions are legit and if I admit which ones were not? Did I have to be read my rights before saying anything because it was my place of employment?