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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    2

    Angry Wrongfully Accused of Shoplifting in a Self-Checkout Lane

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Maryland

    I went to Walmart to buy a few items and used the self check out at Walmart. It was a small amount of groceries. I used self-check out before and have experienced it when sometimes some items don't scan easily. On this particular day I noticed a couple items didn't scan very well but eventually they appeared to scan. I placed the items in the bag on the weighted table that normally would alarm if something didn't get rung up. Everything appeared to go through, I didn't have my glasses with me and didn't check my receipt. I paid for items and went to my car and drove home. On the way home I noticed there was a police car behind me. After a couple miles with lights on they I pulled me over. I got out and was told that I stole something from Walmart. I said no, and handed them the receipt. They went through my items and found an item that wasn't listed!!

    Why was I not alerted by the scanner/weighted scale?? No alarms sounded or staff approached me at Walmart! The police arrested me and charged me with thief. If the technology used at Walmart isn't maintained and isn't working properly (weighted scan should have picked this up once I put an non scanned item in bag!) If they don't have their system calibrated correctly and scanner not working. Has this ever happened to others? What should I do ?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    in alto mare
    Posts
    1,123

    Default Re: Self-Check Out Wrongfully Accused by Walmart

    How were you wrongfully accused, if you admit you had an item you did not pay for?

    Speak to a lawyer.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Wrongfully Accused of Shoplifting in a Self-Checkout Lane

    Beyond lawyering up, there's not much we can say. We don't know why you were being monitored that closely at the register, why the item didn't scan, it's weight or value, and those are facts and issues you will want to discuss with your lawyer.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Wrongfully Accused of Shoplifting in a Self-Checkout Lane

    I believe the store's LP is made up of some very eager individuals who are trying to show productivity to their employer. I heard of other cases of this happening in my small town. I thank you for your input!

    Wrongly accused because I didn't steal anything, I had no idea it didn't pick up the price. I had no intent to steal. It apparently was an issue with the check out system's scale not being calibrated?? and scanned not picking up upc. I have heard this happen numerous times with self check out systems since it happened to me. Walmart has a lot of pull in my small town and it has the police in it's pocket. They didn't believe me and assumed I was guilty..Now I have to pay money for an attorney!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Wrongfully Accused of Shoplifting in a Self-Checkout Lane

    You were caught with an item that you didn't pay for. That means that somebody flagged you as a possible shoplifter, and that you were watched through the shopping process such that an employee observed you somehow getting the unpaid item into your bags, and reporting their observation to the police. There's a lot more to that than an ostensible issue with the scale being improperly calibrated. And on that note, you still haven't told us why you drew the attention of the store's LP's, why the item didn't scan, it's weight or its value.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Wrongfully Accused of Shoplifting in a Self-Checkout Lane

    Whether it was on purpose or accidentally, you did leave the store with an item you did not pay for. Are you suggesting that the store should have taken no action?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Posts
    2,289

    Default Re: Wrongfully Accused of Shoplifting in a Self-Checkout Lane

    Quote Quoting TRISH1020
    View Post
    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Maryland

    I went to Walmart to buy a few items and used the self check out at Walmart. It was a small amount of groceries. I used self-check out before and have experienced it when sometimes some items don't scan easily. On this particular day I noticed a couple items didn't scan very well but eventually they appeared to scan. I placed the items in the bag on the weighted table that normally would alarm if something didn't get rung up. Everything appeared to go through, I didn't have my glasses with me and didn't check my receipt. I paid for items and went to my car and drove home. On the way home I noticed there was a police car behind me. After a couple miles with lights on they I pulled me over. I got out and was told that I stole something from Walmart. I said no, and handed them the receipt. They went through my items and found an item that wasn't listed!!

    Why was I not alerted by the scanner/weighted scale?? No alarms sounded or staff approached me at Walmart! The police arrested me and charged me with thief. If the technology used at Walmart isn't maintained and isn't working properly (weighted scan should have picked this up once I put an non scanned item in bag!) If they don't have their system calibrated correctly and scanner not working. Has this ever happened to others? What should I do ?
    Why didn't you have your glasses if you need them to read? Are you supposed to wear them when you drive too?

    You failed to check your receipt before you left and you obviously had an item you didn't pay for so you technically stole it. It doesn't matter if you intended to.

    This is why I check my cart, check my bags and then I compare my receipt to my items when I use self check out before I leave so I don't miss something.

    You can hire a lawyer. Plead not guilty. That's about all you can do. If you want to go to the Walmart you can file a complaint about their machine to the manager. But you were the one who failed to make sure you scanned everything. It's not Walmart's fault or the cop's fault.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    3,666

    Default Re: Wrongfully Accused of Shoplifting in a Self-Checkout Lane

    There is a chime every time you successfully scan an item. If you don't hear the chime when you pass an item over the scanner, you continue to pass the item over the scanner until you hear the chime. You just don't put the item in the bag. If you were deaf and could not hear the chime, there is a screen that shows the item and price paid. Your argument that the scale or lack thereof, didn't alert you to the item not being paid for is not going to help you with the other two parts to this system.

    I bet that if the scanner would have double rang an item, that you wouldn't have needed your glasses to figure that out.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    in alto mare
    Posts
    1,123

    Default Re: Wrongfully Accused of Shoplifting in a Self-Checkout Lane

    Also, if you have having issues with a self-scanner, there is usually a means to summon a clerk to assist you, like a button on or near the screen. If you had your glasses on...you would have seen that

    You ended up with something you didn't pay for, and the store took action.

    You need a lawyer.

    I really don't like self checkout, myself- I prefer to check out with a real live human.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    8,238

    Default Re: Wrongfully Accused of Shoplifting in a Self-Checkout Lane

    Quote Quoting qwaspolk69
    View Post

    You failed to check your receipt before you left and you obviously had an item you didn't pay for so you technically stole it. It doesn't matter if you intended to.
    Actually, the intent of the OP does matter. Shoplifting is, however, like most crimes simply a general intent crime. What that means is that the defendant does not need to have had a specific intent to violate the law but only an intent to do the act that the person was accused of committing. In this case, the intent necessary would be to take the item from the store without paying for it. The OP need not know that doing so was a crime or have an intent to commit a crime (though in the case of theft pretty much every little kid is taught that stealing is wrong and that it is crime). The problem for the OP is this: there is a general presumption that one intends to do those things which he or she actually does. So when the evidence is that the OP took from the store an item that he or she did not pay for, the presumption is that the OP intended to do just that since people usually do not do things they do not intend to to. The OP would have to convince a jury that he or she did not intend to take it without paying for it, that there was some mistake of fact that led the OP to think the item had been paid for. That’s not easy to do without independent evidence to back it up. If the only evidence on that point is the OP’s own testimony that “I had no idea it didn't pick up the price” a jury is going to be rightfully very skeptical of that claim as pretty much every thief denies the crime and says he or she had no intent to take the item. The statement is self-serving and a jury won’t give it much, if any weight without something else to back it up.


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