Odds of Being Prosecuted by Meijer

[brettx]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Michigan

Hello all, I was wondering what the odds of being prosecuted are for stealing a $16 knife from Meijer. Was completely cooperative when got caught, has no criminal record, paid the civil demand. They have 60 days to let me know if they will prosecute... Thank you very much for responses and your time! It is greatly appreciated.

[jk]

somewhere between 0% and 100%. Can't really be any more accurate than that.


Were the police called? If so, it is not up to Meijer's to determine if you are prosecuted. It's in the DA's hands now. If they weren't called, then I would suspect there will be no prosecution.

[brettx]

No, police were not called

[jk]

If you paid the civil demand, I would doubt it will go any further. At this point, they recovered their merchandise and was paid for it (plus some) via the civil demand. Now, unless they find some need to prosecute you, they gain nothing more but actually cost themselves money due to what they would be required to do for you to be prosecuted.

[brettx]

Thank you very much for your input. So does anything happen as far as a record? I know if they don't prosecute there won't be a criminal record, but I think I recall hearing about some "shoplifters record' where the names of people recently caught shoplifting are compiled to one list. Is this true?

[KeyWestDan]

It is a civil matter, period.

If they wanted to prosecute they would have had to call the police at the time of the offense. The can collect the civil penalty and prosecute too, but it is extremely unlikely that any da/sa will prosecute after the civil demand is paid and when there is no police report at the time of the offense. They would also have to go to the police and convince the police to take it to the da/sa. Not going to happen. They are not going to invest that sort of time and effort over a $16 item they have already been paid for several times over, plus they got the item back too.

There is a national database maintained by retailers of shoplifters and you are not likely to get a job in any store that participates in the system, but you are lucky you are banned only from a minor retailer.

[jk]

If the police are never called, there is nothing as far as a criminal record. You may be on a list of apprehended shoplifters within Meijers. Not sure about the national database though. I was thinking you had to be convicted to be listed on that but not sure.

[brettx]

ok, thank you!