Im 22, and im living in the state of California. ..my husband is in the military and im a civlian, I have a crazy shoplifting story and i dont know who to turn to. I was on base when this incident occured and i had my 3 yr old daughter with me. I was looking at all kinds of things through out the store and I gave my daughter a wallet to play with because she was whining for it, so i gave in and let her play with it...keep in mind the wallet had a HUGE security sensor on it which is impossible to get through security with ...anyways, i had also gotten some winter beenies ( hats) in the cart as well, my daughter was playing and she brought her blankie into the store with us and through out the store, somehow the beenies ended up underneath her( as i later found out when i got stopped) ( she was laying down in the cart) anyways, i walked out of the store, and the alarm sounded , i stopped and turned around and looked down into my cart, only to look down into my purse and see that my baby was playing and unknowingly put the wallet in my purse. My husband is a higher rank in the military, and we have money, i dont need to steal a couple hundred dollars worth of things when i obvioulsy have the money. They pulled me in the back, with my child, and were screaming at me, juding me and questioning me and telling me that my story is ridiculous b/c they had ME, physically on camera putting all of those things in my purse. NOW- i know for a fact that i DID NOT put any thing in my purse with my own hand, they asked me " then WHO DID??" and i hated to even say my 3 yr old, but its the truth. Im a bad mom for not watching her EVERY MOVE, but they made me feel like i was just using her to get off easy. Im willing to take full responsibility for this, i understand that i couldve prevented this, but when i left the store and saw that nothing was in my cart, i assumed that my daughter had throw things out like she usually does. Anyways, the police were called and now im going to have a court date and Im so embarassed to even be involved in anything like this, but what do i do??? Im making myself physically sick here worrying about whats to come. What can i expect?? when i was 16 i got caught shoplifting in a department store but the police were NOT called or involved at all , but im so afraid my teenage mistake will affect this mistake and somehow get me put in jail?? I need some advice quickly before I drive myself crazy!

