Took Granola Bar, Never Left Store, Trying to Say It Was 12

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Indiana

While on a long drive yesterday, I made a stop at an Indiana marathon gas station. After cleaning the unpresentable bathroom and trying my best not to touch anything (this comes up later) I grabbed a bag of pretzels and a 0.80 cent granola bar. While heading for the line, I realized I’d only brought a dollar with me, so stupidly dropped the granola bar into my bag. Upon reaching the counter, the cashier told me to let him see my bag. I asked him why and at this point he lunged forward (from behind a all plexiglass cashier area besides the part directly in front of the cashier) and grabbed my bag. He started going through it. Pulling out tampons, my key chain, credit cards, everything. He found the granola bar, held it up, and screamed THIS!!!! You are thief! Thief! You go to jail now!!! He refused to hand my purse back to me and went through all my credit cards and belongings in a small coin purse made to fit just cards. The people behind me were staring as he kept screaming I was a thief and going to jail. I told him I would pay for the item and asked him to let me go as this would ruin my college career. He told me I was a liar and not in college and a thief and actress. He demanded to see my purse again, and instead of giving it back to him I just held it open for him to show I’d taken nothing else. He grabbed it and wrestled it from my hands again, and went through it. He pulled out a pack of orbit gum I’d bought at a gas station back home and screamed at me that I’d taken that too. I yelled back at him in shock that I hadn’t even been near the gum and had the receipt for that in my car. He scans it and tries telling me it came from his inventory but I persisted and asked him to let me show him the receipt. He instead throws it back into my purse. He kept telling the people behind me, this thief is a good actress. He told me he was calling the police and proceeded to get on the phone (at this point I didn’t realize that he wasn’t even speaking English but his native language). He hung up and told me to have fun in jail. He goes, you know where you’re going? JAIL! Where will you be tomorrow? Jail!!! You know where the police take you?? JAILLL!! Etc etc. He kept saying “You are bad person, you go to jail, you thief” Every time a customer walked in he would point at me and say, “this girl steal. She thief! What should I do? Should I call police so they take her to jail?” After finding out I had stolen a granola bar, every customer was like no, let her go. Most even said hey I’ll pay for it just let her go. One guy even said, “Man come on, you did this to a girl last week.” Another said, “you’re going to lose customers, last week when my total was $2.12 I told you to hang on so I could get 12 cents out of my car and you screamed at me no, no I couldn’t leave without paying and I was a thief and trying to steal from you. “ The cashier shrugged and nonchalantly replied, I was upset that day. The customer, yelling at this point goes, “well you need to stop taking your anger out on your customers! I see you do it every week. It’s not like she stole gas or something!” He goes, I don’t care about gas, steal gas, I care about my groceries! I was telling the man to not worry about it, it was my fault because I felt bad he was getting so upset. The man said, “man just ban her from the store or something.” And the cashier goes, “No! she come back when I’m not here and steal more, she’s a thief!!! She steal!!!” At this point I am crying out of control, embarrassed that every person that comes in the door he point at me and tells them I stole and asks them what he should do, all with a smirk on his face. To one woman he said, “Your father with the polce right? She said no he passed away, And without concern for this he tells her I stole and should I go to jail. Every time the customer says let me go, and every time he says no, police are on way to take me to jail. The phone rings and he answers, again in a different language. After this call he gives me my purse and everything back but my ID. I call my mom, tell her what’s going on. With this he demands I give him the phone, thinking it may help my case, I do. He only screams at my mother that I came in, took long time in bathroom, and steal. (When I came in I went straight to the bathroom before even going down aisles so I don’t understand why that was even relevant). He yells at her that I’m a bad person and hangs up on her, sliding the phone violently back at me on the counter. He screams at me to get away from the counter so I walk about 5 feet away and call my mom back. I tell her I am sorry and scared out of my mind and can’t start my class tomorrow because this is going to cost me more than I have already. Upon hearing this he screams at me that tomorrow, my class is JAIL! And tells again another customer I’ve stolen and the same routine continues. After the customer leaves, the cashier comes from behind the sealed off area through the door leading out to the store, and demands I give him my phone. I don’t so he literally wretches it from my hands as I try to keep it. He walks back to behind the counter and proceeds to yell at my mom more as she tries to reason with him. He hangs up on her again and puts the phone in his back pocket with his ID. I ask for my phone back and he refuses. This goes on about another half hour (at about 1 ½ hours total) before the owner gets there. The police were never called, just him. He pulls me aside, questions me, then tells me they took down my information (which I saw the cashier doing) and were putting me into a theft database for all stores. That his cousin was an FBI agent and if I ever entered the area again or shoplifted I’d get a minimum 10 years in jail. He lectured me on shoplifting and handed me back my ID and phone. After gathering my composure I left.

I guess what I’m worried about here is a Civil Demand or a later decision to press charges. My mom called the owner to speak with him about the incident and he tried to tell her I took 12 candy bars!! The cameras and every witness show that it was only 1 items so I don't understand why he is saying this!? The cashier when he was speaking to my mom even said 1 candy bar. I took one and never even left the store with the item! In fact I didn’t even have a chance to pay for the other item I was paying for before he took my purse. Not only did he humiliate me in front of every customer by telling them what I did, he kept my phone from me and even wrestled it from my hand. While questioning me he asked things like where I was from and where I lived and how old I was. I hardly saw these questions necessary and the taking down of my information and questions makes me extremely wary. I know I was wrong for taking the item, and the humiliation has taught me my lesson, but why do I feel as if I was the one violated? And why is the owner, who wasn’t even there and saw the one thing I took, trying to say I took 12 items???

nothing matters now except waiting to see if a civil demand is issued.

You may very well get a civil demand.
They did have every right to get your name and address. (and possibly driver's license info...I'm not sure about that)

I can see how that was really embarassing for you. If you did not attempt to steal, that would not have happened. That granola bar did not end up in your purse because of a dirty bathroom...sorry.

It's time to let it go.

Oh, and when you do begin college, please ask them to teach you about paragraphs and white space. Please?...

I'm actually already in college, I will be a senior with a double major in the sciences, so my apologies for not constructing full paragraphs as I was merely trying to remember and type out everything so I could cover all the details.

I have an update on this but I'm not sure if it changes the situation. When my mom talked to the store owner it turns out the cashier is who told him I'd taken 12 candy bars. And claimed that he found that out by going to check the stock. This is a lie as he never left the cashier area and tore apart my bag looking for anything other than the one he found. Anyway, the owner told him to let me go once he said it was one candy bar and the cashier detained me anyway and told me the police were coming to take me to jail. I understand the threat of a civil demand but also that the way the cashier treated me was against even the store owner's wishes. I realize what I did was wrong and I'm fully aware it was my fault and I take responsiblity for that, but I guess I'm just in awe of the fact that the man nearly broke my fingers wrestling a cell phone off me and refused to give it back. I would want to press charges against him, not the owner. And the owner told my mom he would be fired anyway (not that he really will) so I don't think it would bring objections from the owner. Idk, I may be completely wrong, but that is why I'm asking here. Thanks in advance for any advice.