My question involves criminal law for the state of: Indiana
I was at work and was doing my normal thing running the register and ringing people up. I had been there about 4 hours and then I went on lunch and came back. Nothing odd/strange happened and I didn't do anything out of the ordinary or anything that I wasn't supposed to do.
I came back from lunch and about 45 minutes later a manager came and told me that they needed to see me back in the office so I finished up my line and logged out of my register and walked to the back. I was there and there were a few people there and they asked me if I knew why I was there and I told them that I didn't and they responded that everybody says that.
They then told me that somebody had seen me charge a gift card and then use a vendor coupon to bring the balance to 0 so that the drawer would not be short. To be honest I didn't load any gift cards other than for customers and I didn't have a gift card in my possession. I didn't steal anything and I'm pretty sure that the charge will be dismissed in court but I'm mostly wanting to get some information on the process as I've never dealt with anything even remotely similar to this before. I'm not here to debate whether I did or did not do this, I just want information based on the information I have provided. If you need any clarification at all do let me know.
They interrogated me in the back office for a while and then they also accused me of stealing a bottle of water and I pulled out the receipt and told them that I did buy it and didn't steal it and they took me into the loss prevention office and watched on the video that I did in fact purchase the water bottle so they only had me charged with the one count of theft. In Indiana theft no matter the amount as long as it is under $100,000 is a Class D Felony. I looked up the definition of theft and I have a pretty good understanding of it.
When I asked them to show me video of me supposedly loading this gift card they told me that they were still recording on the tape so they could not show me, but I know for a fact that they record 100% to digital video recorders unless they are dubbing to a tape. They may have been dubbing it to a tape, I cannot be certain.
At any rate all they could possibly have is the word of whoever "saw" me do whatever it is they saw me do. I did not have a gift card on me, nor did I load one. There will not be video of me loading a gift card because I didn't do it, and it won't be on my register log as I didn't do it.
I have the name of a lawyer that somebody I know used for a somewhat similar situation but I was wanting to know what rights I have when it comes to seeing the surveillance tapes, and any other evidence against me. Do I have to wait for court in order to see the evidence they have (or don't have) against me?
If you have any advice on how to handle this situation I would appreciate it, I know that the lawyer will obviously be able to assist me much better than anybody on a forum likely could it would help to learn as much as I can about this.
I'm still tremendously upset so I'm sure this isn't as organized as it should be, so like I said if you need any clarification do let me know.
Thank you

