Will You Be Caught and Prosecuted for Accidentally Taking Unpurchased Items

[DeputyDog]

Well, anything that we read on any message board, is somebody claiming something. Those people claimed that they had mistakenly left with unpaid merchandise and that they had been arrested when returning to pay for the merchandise. You are claiming that someone who returns to pay for such merchandise will not be arrested. One "claim" vs. another "claim". Which claim is correct? The one made by someone who has spent years working in loss prevention and law enforcement, and whose loss prevention experience spans several national retail chains. That would be ME in this current discussion.

Well, if you're the OP, do you want to go back and risk arrest?

The OP is not going to be arrested. I rarely state such absolute things, but that is a pretty safe bet here. Now if the OP is full of it, and in fact meant to walk out with it, then she might have something to worry about. But if she's been totally honest here? She's not going to be arrested for saying "I accidentally walked out with this and wanted to bring it back."

To your claim, I've MADE arrests in which people obviously intended to steal, but then said, usually loudly and with really bad acting, "Oh no! Oops! I must have walked out with this by mistake" as I was approaching them to take them into custody. I've also had one or two in which someone brought something back - again, there was evidence that they intended to steal, such as ripping things out of packaging, concealing, looking up at cameras, then running out the door - and they WERE arrested when they brought it back with their BS claim, because the only reason they came back is that they believed we'd gotten a license plate number or something of that sort.

The OP's situation? Not going to be arrested in a million years, ESPECIALLY at a national chain like Ulta.

[John_28]

DeputyDog, you're talking about only the situations YOU have been involved in. You can not possibly know about situations that did not involve you.

[free9man]

DeputyDog, you're talking about only the situations YOU have been involved in. You can not possibly know about situations that did not involve you.

Having worked LP at 2 major national retail chains, I have also never seen or heard of this happening.