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  1. #1

    Unhappy Charged With Shoplifting After Accepting an Item From a Friend

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Texas
    I was at the mall shopping with friends. We went into Sephora, and they started stuffing their purses with items. They asked me to do it as well, but I declined. I tried keeping my distance from them. I was extremely nervous/paranoid because I had been caught shoplifting when I was a minor and learned my lesson, but being around that scene again made me uncomfortable.Before I left the store, a lady who worked there kept hammering me about a product that I almost bought, it was obvious she was skeptical of me so I opened up all my bags and said "Check me I promise I have nothing" and left the store right after. We had left the store and kept walking around the mall, and then my friend pulled a lipgloss out of her purse from sephora and gave it to me, I accepted it and put it into my purse (Stupid, I know). Moments later a lady from loss prevention asked us to go with her, and we were all arrested and given court dates. I was in complete shock, all I could think about was the fact that I had a stolen item in my possession, I didn't think to tell the authorities that I did not steal that item. The only proof they have of us shoplifting is the surveillance camera, and If they look back, they will not see me steal anything, and they will show me opening my bags before I leave the store. I'm really nervous and don't know what to do in my situation, Is it possible that I can prove my innocence and get this case dismissed? I know I was stupid for accepting the lipgloss but I did not shoplift.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    1,131

    Default Re: Friends Were Shoplifting, I Was Charged, Need

    You were stupid to accept that "gift" from your "friend". You knew it was stolen and are as guilty as they are, so stop with the "I'm innocent" routine.

    No one here can help you other than to tell you that you need an attorney.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
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    Default Re: Charged With Shoplifting After Accepting an Item From a Friend

    Why didn't you just leave when your "friends" started to steal crap?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
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    Default Re: Charged With Shoplifting After Accepting an Item From a Friend

    Quote Quoting brokecollegestudent
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    I know I was stupid for accepting the lipgloss but I did not shoplift.
    Yes you did. You are an accessory because you KNEW they were shoplifting and YOU had the stolen merchandise on you. Therefore you aided and abetted. Try not hanging around with thieves and accepting stolen merchandise as gifts. You should have reported them when you knew they were stealing. You didn't. You are guilty.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    Default Re: Charged With Shoplifting After Accepting an Item From a Friend

    Yep, at the minimum it's receiving stolen property, but as Ohio says it more likely is that you are just an accessory to the actual theft.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
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    141

    Default Re: Charged With Shoplifting After Accepting an Item From a Friend

    Quote Quoting Ohiogal
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    Yes you did. You are an accessory because you KNEW they were shoplifting and YOU had the stolen merchandise on you. Therefore you aided and abetted. Try not hanging around with thieves and accepting stolen merchandise as gifts. You should have reported them when you knew they were stealing. You didn't. You are guilty.
    Are you sure that the OP is an accessory just because she saw the crime and did not report the crime? Conspiracy requires an agreement between two or more people to violate the law. Did the OP agree to violate the law?

    If I see some stranger shoplifting and I don't report the crime, am I an accessory?

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Charged With Shoplifting After Accepting an Item From a Friend

    Quote Quoting TechWorker
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    Are you sure that the OP is an accessory just because she saw the crime and did not report the crime? Conspiracy requires an agreement between two or more people to violate the law. Did the OP agree to violate the law?

    If I see some stranger shoplifting and I don't report the crime, am I an accessory?
    She was charged because she accepted one of the shoplifted items - which she had observed being shoplifted - as a gift...even though she knew it had been shoplifted. So yeah, she agreed to violate the law.

  8. #8
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    Sep 2010
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    Default Re: Charged With Shoplifting After Accepting an Item From a Friend

    Quote Quoting TechWorker
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    Are you sure that the OP is an accessory just because she saw the crime and did not report the crime? Conspiracy requires an agreement between two or more people to violate the law. Did the OP agree to violate the law?

    If I see some stranger shoplifting and I don't report the crime, am I an accessory?
    You are if you help carry off the stolen merchandise. It is not a gift. You can't be gifted something by someone who doesn't own it. She was actively involved in removing the stolen property from the owner. The Texas theft statute only requires you to exert control over property to deprive it from the owner. Texas law consolidated all the theft offenses. Even if she was given the property the next day knowing it was stolen, she is as guilty as if she stole it herself. Further, the law is pretty clear on the intent issue here.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
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    141

    Default Re: Charged With Shoplifting After Accepting an Item From a Friend

    Quote Quoting eerelations
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    She was charged because she accepted one of the shoplifted items - which she had observed being shoplifted - as a gift...even though she knew it had been shoplifted. So yeah, she agreed to violate the law.
    She accepted stolen property. She did not shoplift. These are two different offenses. And, if the prosecutor gets them mixed up, then the OP could be acquitted.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
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    Default Re: Charged With Shoplifting After Accepting an Item From a Friend

    Quote Quoting TechWorker
    View Post
    She accepted stolen property. She did not shoplift. These are two different offenses. And, if the prosecutor gets them mixed up, then the OP could be acquitted.
    The OPer knew that her friends were shoplifting and could even be viewed as acting as a decoy (accessory) AND then accepted some of the ill gotten goods. The OP wouldn't be acquitted based on the facts in the OP.

    Stop creating alternative scenarios. It only muddies the water.

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