Petty Theft, First Time Offense in the State of California

[xvamel]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: California

Hi there, recently I did something extremely stupid in the wishes of popularity and fitting in. I stole $71 worth of make up from a Sephora that was located inside of JC Penney. On my way out, a Loss Preventions officer approached me and pulled my into an office with his female co-worker. They went through my things and found the stolen items. Yes, I know it was wrong and stupid and will follow me around for a while making my life difficult. During the process in their office, they made the people I was with wait outside. I admitted to the Loss Preventions officer my crime because they had hard evidence and I felt that just trying to fight it all would waste their time and make me look even worse. They took down all my information and finally what was left to do was wait for the police officer. While waiting for the police officer, another person had been pulled in for theft too, she was much older than I and it was clear that she had stolen much more than I did, the Loss Preventions officers used a lot of profanity towards her in front of me, does that do anything or help in any way? I am only 15 years old and I do not even live in the state of California, I am only visiting, once again I understand what I did was incredibly stupid and I am ready to accept all my consequences and will never be doing something so stupid again. When the police officer came she wrote down a citation for me and gave me a court date, she told me to try and go to court the very next day to settle it due to the fact that I was leaving to go back to school soon. She had written it down as a misdemeanor. They took a picture of all the things I stole, my possessions and a picture of me. When I got to the court office, they said I could not go to court bc the officer had not submitted my files yet and there was nothing that I could do yet. I was very cooperative the ENTIRE time and did not try to run or anything, I was as polite as I could be. The whole process lasted around two hours. So my questions are;

Is there any way I could plea for an infraction even though it was $71? Is the offer of Petty Theft Diversion possible? Taking community service? Lowering the charges?
Do I need a lawyer? Bc I'm unsure I can afford one and is a public defender enough?
Will it be difficult for me to push back my court date bc I will not be in state and still at school?
Will I be able to expunge this from my record eventually?
Even though I am a juvenile, the officer had checked the location to go to as the superior court where adult cases are taken, why?

I am shameful for my actions and I regret them very much, please believe me when I say that I am pretty terrified right now. Any help given is MUCH appreciated, thank you for taking your time to read and help.

[Mr. Knowitall]

As you are a juvenile, you should be enlisting the help of your parents in your case. Your parents can help you get a lawyer. Your lawyer can attempt to negotiate a disposition, and can address any complications relating to the scheduled court date.

I have no way of telling you why the officer issued you a ticket for superior court. Perhaps the officer misread your birthdate from your ID or made another mistake. (I'm assuming that the officer wasn't working from a fake ID... you would know if you had a fake ID on your person.) That is something you should discuss with your lawyer.

[DeputyDog]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: California

Hi there, recently I did something extremely stupid in the wishes of popularity and fitting in. I stole $71 worth of make up from a Sephora that was located inside of JC Penney. On my way out, a Loss Preventions officer approached me and pulled my into an office with his female co-worker. They went through my things and found the stolen items. Yes, I know it was wrong and stupid and will follow me around for a while making my life difficult. During the process in their office, they made the people I was with wait outside. I admitted to the Loss Preventions officer my crime because they had hard evidence and I felt that just trying to fight it all would waste their time and make me look even worse. Yep, you are correct about all of that. They took down all my information and finally what was left to do was wait for the police officer. While waiting for the police officer, another person had been pulled in for theft too, she was much older than I and it was clear that she had stolen much more than I did, the Loss Preventions officers used a lot of profanity towards her in front of me, does that do anything or help in any way? Does that do anything for what? How could that possibly help you? And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see why they might have used a little profanity with her: you just said "she was much older," i.e. an adult, and "had stolen much more than I did," i.e. "much more" than $71 is a decent sized haul. What this all points to is that unlike you, she is a dirtbag, a frequent flyer, a career criminal. How do you know what happened when they stopped her outside or at the door? Did she fight out there? You probably saw the tail end of whatever happened when they stopped her, which may well have been violent. Criminal apprehensions and arrests are sometimes messy, and sometimes everyone involved ends up using a couple choice words. This has no bearing on your case. I am only 15 years old and I do not even live in the state of California, I am only visiting, once again I understand what I did was incredibly stupid and I am ready to accept all my consequences and will never be doing something so stupid again. When the police officer came she wrote down a citation for me and gave me a court date, she told me to try and go to court the very next day to settle it due to the fact that I was leaving to go back to school soon. She had written it down as a misdemeanor. They took a picture of all the things I stole, my possessions and a picture of me. When I got to the court office, they said I could not go to court bc the officer had not submitted my files yet and there was nothing that I could do yet. I was very cooperative the ENTIRE time and did not try to run or anything, I was as polite as I could be. The whole process lasted around two hours. So my questions are;

Is there any way I could plea for an infraction even though it was $71? Is the offer of Petty Theft Diversion possible? Taking community service? Lowering the charges?
Do I need a lawyer? Bc I'm unsure I can afford one and is a public defender enough?
Will it be difficult for me to push back my court date bc I will not be in state and still at school?
Will I be able to expunge this from my record eventually?
Even though I am a juvenile, the officer had checked the location to go to as the superior court where adult cases are taken, why?

I am shameful for my actions and I regret them very much, please believe me when I say that I am pretty terrified right now. Any help given is MUCH appreciated, thank you for taking your time to read and help.

And, everything that Mr. Knowitall said above as well.

[xvamel]

I'm sorry for asking? I was just saying bc the male LP officers partner kwpt giving him disapproving looks with the amount of profanity he was using. And yes, I did see the whole scene of what happened to her bc he pulled me to the back room where they have the cameras and showed me her case bc he did not want to leave me alone in the other room. It was not violent at all and she played dumb, sorry for asking.

- - - Updated - - -

My parents do know about it, thanks for the help so far!

[flyingron]

Using profanity is unprofessional and I suspect that is why his partner was experiencing discomfort but it means absolutely NOTHING to you. There's no obligation for the to be polite or professional when dealing with criminals that are stealing from them.

[CourtClerk]

I have no way of telling you why the officer issued you a ticket for superior court. Perhaps the officer misread your birthdate from your ID or made another mistake. (I'm assuming that the officer wasn't working from a fake ID... you would know if you had a fake ID on your person.) That is something you should discuss with your lawyer.

After the last set of layoffs and the restructuring of the courts, a lot of the cases that were heard in delinquency court were transferred to Superior Court to be disposed of to lighten the load of the (now fewer) delinquency courts. Most misdemeanor offenses are not being heard in Superior Court now.

[DeputyDog]

I'm sorry for asking? I was just saying bc the male LP officers partner kwpt giving him disapproving looks with the amount of profanity he was using. And yes, I did see the whole scene of what happened to her bc he pulled me to the back room where they have the cameras and showed me her case bc he did not want to leave me alone in the other room. It was not violent at all and she played dumb, sorry for asking.

- - - Updated - - -

My parents do know about it, thanks for the help so far!

Again, you saw what happened from the time they got her into the office, NOT the stop outside itself. And I'm not sure if you are implying that you watched her get stopped on the cameras, but God only knows what she was SAYING to them outside even if it didn't appear violent.

You have no idea why the partner was "giving him disapproving looks;" Working with a large staff in an LP office, I can tell you right now that we are often "giving each other looks" or making references that the shoplifters don't get. We have inside jokes, references back to other cases we've worked, and frankly, annoyances with each other's personalities and habits. I've given my partners "disapproving looks" many times that the shoplifters probably (mis-) interpreted as having something to do with the way my partner was speaking or what they were doing when in reality my "disapproving looks" were because I've asked so-and-so 100 times not to leave her Chinese food all spread out at the camera console and lo and behold, while she's dealing with YOU, I'm moving 10 boxes of Chinese out of the way so that I can watch cameras.

Anyway, flyingron gets it right in any event. Maybe his partner WAS uncomfortable with him, but it has nothing to do with you and doesn't help you in any way.