Two months ago, my 13yr old daughter was observed removing tags from a $30 pair of sandals at our local grocery/department store, wearing the sandals about the store and then approaching the exit. She was in the company of 3 friends, one of whom ate a baked good and did not pay for it.

Prior to exiting the store, store security detained my daughter and her friend.

Store security called my husband to pick her up. Husband was told that the incident report would be forwarded to the prosecutor's office and that they would determine if they would pursue prosecution. Additionally, they said that my daughter was banned from the store unless accompanied by a parent.

On the same day, I called the Store Director and personally apologized for the incident, assured him that we would appropriately handle the situation with our daughter and to expect a visit from her in the near future.

Two days later, my daughter, escorted by my husband, presented a letter of apology to the assistant Store Director and verbally extended her apologies for the incident.

One month ago, we received a letter from the Prosecutor's Office, offering an alternative to prosecution. The terms of it were:
$200.00 payment to the store
$200.00 fee to participate
$80.00 fee for 8 hour shoplifting class
Letter of apology to store (we explained that we had already done this)
We were informed that the above option was significantly less costly than going to trial.

Due to financial circumstances ( husband currently laid off ) daughter was able to negotiate a payment due date at the beginning of June. Prosecutor's Office said that we should be receiving a letter with demand for payment from the retailer.

To date, we have not received anything from the retailer. Although a report was filled out at time of incident in the store, we have received no tickets, court orders or the like, with the exception of the original document from the Prosecutor's Office, offering the alternative to prosecuting.

My questions are:

1) As my daughter relinquished the sandals within the store and did not leave the store, could she really be prosecuted for shoplifting?

2) It seems odd that we have not received a demand from the retailer at this late date. After our initial interactions with store management, I was honestly surprised to hear from the Prosecutor's Office. The Store Director had told me that we were the only family to respond to them in the manner we did following an incident in his history with the company. Is there a limit to the period of time that the retailer can present their demand to us?

Thank you in advance for any insight into the legal aspects of this situation.