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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    1

    Unhappy Falsely Confessed to Helping a Customer Shoplift

    I was an employee at a department store, a Girl I go to high school with came in and bought a very expensive handbag from me using a retail credit card, but indirectly i.e. the credit card number written on a piece of paper. Five minutes later she came back and returned it for cash. $2500+. It turns out she stole that number somehow, it was someone elses account, and that person was a customer I had helped earlier that day.
    They accused me based on my arbitrary association with her, which they disclosed to me through a printed list of my Facebook friends, her name highlighted. I knew I had made a mistake in judgement by not establishing definite identification for the account holder but it was an everyday innocent oversight. But about a month after no longer working for the store, I was contacted and asked to come in to discuss “a very serious” Loss Prevention issue. Over the phone with the official, I was told that the case was wrapped up and if I did not come in to confront the issue and make a statement that night, I would immediately be arrested.
    I went in and they revealed to me the fraudulency of the charge, camera photographs of The Girl, Facebook printouts of her on my friends list, and disclosed to me several pieces of the apparently vast & flawless collection of "evidence" notes linking me to the act. One, of course, being the fact that the victimized owner of the card was a customer of mine earlier that day. Another note was that I had strangely rung up the fraudulent customer at a register not in our department and cameras show that it was not busy, but filled with my co-workers and leads to the conclusion that I was concealing a suspicious transaction.
    Despite my honest objections to involvement and unbelievable astonishment in the unfortunate pattern of suspicion, they insisted that I was absolutely guilty and there was no question as to my survival in court. They told me that I was headed to court and would undoubtedly be convicted of the charges. They were positive based on the rest of their supposed collected evidence, which they refused to share with me. If I confessed to them there and accepted an on-site arrest, I was told that I would recieve leniency within the courts and that it was my only hope. If I denied it and left, I would be arrested along with The Girl, publically by police officers at our high school the next day. The Girl involved would recieve her charge and consequence regardless and would not recieve the same "graceful" oppurtunity as I.
    I was petrified but absolutely sure of my innocence. My father was arriving from his overseas home for the first time in a year, bringing my half-sister and stepmother for their first American trip and were going to be at my school the next day to see me. I was terribly frightened, oblivious to my rights and felt completely helpless and basically trapped against their threats.
    Out of a panicked attempt to only contain the impact and avoid a heart-breaking scene in front of my family, I made a fabricated confession and accepted the arrest with a shaky assurance to myself that after The Girl was arrested, she would confess the scheme not involving me at all and I would be let free. But this girl was never arrested or even confronted about the incident. I am being held responsible for the entire amount of the bag and am facing a felony charge in less than a month.
    I am part-time school and full-time work and was evicted last month from my mothers home so I dont have the money for prestigious attorney... I am very ambitious, hard-working and destined to travel and study worldwide. This act is not mine and would destroy everything I've dreamed of, everything I've ever worked for.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    1,419

    Default Re: LP Misleading, False Confession, Get Dismissed

    I would wonder why the other person was not arrested .What was the charge and what state did it happen in ? Keep quiet and see what a legal aid can do for you. Explain to the legal aid exactly what happened from start to finish,even if it looks bad on you.

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

    Default Re: LP Misleading, False Confession, Get Dismissed

    Did you handle the return as well? It's hard to imagine a store, let alone one dealing with $2,500 purses, would allow anybody to return a credit card purchase for cash.

    Your story doesn't really add up. Somebody you know comes into your store with a credit card number but no credit card. You ignore all common sense and all store policies and let her complete the purchase. This person, who you would have to have a pretty good idea is not the sort who can afford a $2,500 purse, returns it five minutes later. If you're also the person who processed the return, I don't like your odds in front of a jury. (And that's before we get to the fact that you confessed.)

    When you asked your friend to confess and clear your name, what did she tell you?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    1,419

    Default Re: LP Misleading, False Confession, Get Dismissed

    Getting your friend to fess up,might be your only chance get the case dismissed.Even then,there gonna think hey we got a confession here,were set. Hopefully there lower the charge to a misdeamanor or you can get in to a diversion program.Getting this dismissed seems unlikely,having the legal aid agraneing a plea bargain might be the best outcome avabile. If your young enough and your state has it,maybe you can get youthful offender or something simlar.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    9,096

    Default Re: LP Misleading, False Confession, Get Dismissed

    Quote Quoting tc498
    View Post
    Getting your friend to fess up,might be your only chance get the case dismissed.Even then,there gonna think hey we got a confession here,were set. Hopefully there lower the charge to a misdeamanor or you can get in to a diversion program.Getting this dismissed seems unlikely,having the legal aid agraneing a plea bargain might be the best outcome avabile. If your young enough and your state has it,maybe you can get youthful offender or something simlar.
    Having the other person confess will not help all that much.

    No one, in their right mind, sells a 2500 item to a credit card number written on a piece of notebook paper and then returns it for cash.

    No one.

    add in the fact that the number originated from the OP's register earlier in the day and the relationship between the OP and the mysterious girl, and there really is no doubt.

    OP, are you saying there are NO company policies about using a credit card? Like, for instance, actually HAVING the credit card in their possession? ID that matches the name on the card? Not returning a CC purchase for cash?

    Nope... you stole... and now you are going to be charged with a felony.

    By the way, you should be prepared for LP to start digging through your other transactions to look for a pattern.

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