My question involves criminal law for the state of: Oakbrook, IL
A few days ago I put some children's clothing in my bag while shopping at Macy's. I was there for awhile shopping so I must've given the detectives there plenty of time to follow me..doh. Anyway, as I walked out (and I wasnt even all the way out the doors either) of the store 5 Macy's LP people stopped me and took my bags and PURSE to hold onto and told me to walk with them. When we got to the back of the store in their office they said that i was "not random" and they had been watching me since the moment I came into the store. Dont know what that meant, but they said they had seen me there 3 weeks earlier. How do they recognize one person out of so many? And how are they able to pick me out as I come into the store that fast? What kind of cameras and technology are they using that they can be that good? Is it like a face recognition system? Anyway, the total came to 300 bucks for the stuff I took, and they called the police and arrested me. Gave me some BS about civil demand which Im not paying as i didnt keep anything of theirs anyway, and the rent-a-cops took like an hour only of their time trying to talk me down. When I got to the PD they did all the booking stuff and this is where I am confused. I am a single mom and they knew that I had a child at home with a baby sitter. SO, instead of giving me that felony, as the items were more than 150.00 and in IL felony theft is 150 and above, they gave me a misdemeanor TEMPORARILY, so I could get bailed out right there and go home to my child. As if it was a felony, Id have to go to county jail overnight and wait for a bond hearing from a judge and it wouldve been much more than 100 bucks to get out of jail. So, they said that at my next court date, the charge would be upped to a felony and I would go to trial for that. The thing I am most worried about is that, I have always had issues with spending and such and for around 9 years I got them under control. Meaning I stopped spending so much and didnt shoplift anymore. I have 8 prior arrests for retail theft from when I was 18-22 years old and 2 felonies on my record for those. Its been 9 years since I shoplifted and for some reason, I started doing it again after all this time. And I hate the addiction. I feel awful. And Im so worried about what the judge will throw at me now with my priors. Is there anything I can do before the court date to help me besides paying for an attorney as I have no money for that. People keep talking about diversion programs and I have no idea what that is. Can someone tell me about that. Anyway, went back to my old therapist again to figure out what made me want to start stealing again, she thinks I replaced my eating habits for shoplifting..I had gastric bypass 2 years ago. OK thanks.

