Results 1 to 6 of 6
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    3

    Default Accidental Shoplifting in Oregon

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Oregon

    I regularly shop at a chain of thrift stores and was arrested for shoplifting. The problem is I was not intending to steal. My routine is to shop the shelves and pick up small electronic items that I research on my dataphone for potential resale. Once I have researched I either purchase or put back the items. In this case I spotted another item that I purchased and the other two items fell down in between the dog blanket that my dog sits on in the cart. I was particlularly tired this day as I had spent all day shopping at their other stores.. The lP guy came out of the store and questioned me about what I had under the dog. I was surprised but realized that I just forgot about the two items. They consisted of a broken digital camera 9.99 and a power supply unit with a wireless network card rubber banded together 19.99. I did not want them but got distracted with the item that I did purchase and spaced them out. The lp seperated the two rubberbanded items and asked a store worker for the price of the item that had no tag on it. It came back with a 19.99 price. so it became three items. After sitting around for two hours the lp guy tried to get me to sign forms basicly admitting what they alleged I did and I refused on the basis that I disagreed with him saying it was willfull theft. The police showed up and arrested me. The officer asked me for my cash to inventory and any other personal items i had and I complied. I had a satalite remote control in my pocket that he ask if it was the stores and I told him it was purchased at the "chains outlet" store, where you purchase items by the pound in bulk, earlier that day. It had their sticker on it with a two day old date and the LP guy said their was no way that could have made it to the outlet store that quickly and took the remote from me. I argued his point of how fast some items make to their outlet store but he did not want to believe me. The officer questioned the whole thing and decided to take all the items an log them in as evidence. Then I went to jail to be booked. Never had any problems with the law other then a traffic ticket. My livleyhood is at risk being that spend lot money at these stores purchasing goods for resale. It seems its been a bit blown out of proportion. I just forgot to set the items back.

    I went to community court and plead not guilty. A trail is now sceduled. Talked to a lawyer and he said its a tough case to prove innocence being that the charge was reduced to a violation which took away my right to jury, court appointed lawyer and verdict will be based on preponderance of evidence. He said it would cost about $3000.00 for help. He also said I could handle myself but it would be risky and maybe best to get it back to community court where you plead guilty, get community service and can get it removed from your record. He was very honest and only charged me $50.00 for the advice.

    After seeing how complicated and expesive it is to fight this I tried to get my case back to the community court without any luck. basicly I have to go to trial and may be able to ask the judge if I can get it moved back to the community court but he could deny that in which case I will have to be ready to defend myself that day.

    I have spent alot of time going over this and think I can present a reasonble defense but know that it is a tough thing to do for the layman and that the courts have little patience for us this.

    My questions are if I defend myself, which I can't afford to do anything else, I could use any ideas for a defense stratagy. Any chance of getting it thrown out based on the fact they added that $2.99 remote to the total value that changed the charge from theft 1 to theft II. The LP guy did not see me "select the item" and did not even know it existed untill the police found it during the search later. Also the two items that were bundled together and then seperated and the one with no price sticker was then priced at $19.99 raises again the question about the value of the crime, which in turn affected the charge against me.

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Thank You

    banned

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Accidental Shoplifting in Oregon

    You rubber banded the two items together? Or are you stating that the store had done that? Have you come up with your receipt from the outlet store, to document the purchase of the remote?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: Accidental Shoplifting in Oregon

    Thank you for reply. The two items were rubberbanded together on the shelf. I did not put them together, just picked them up that way. I have a reciept for the remote but it is not itemized as items at the outlet store are sold by the pound in bulk. The lp guy say's its theirs becuase the retail stores do not send items to the outlet before three weeks have gone by. This is not true as I have purchesed many items at the outlet with dates much closer than three weeks. I have seen dates as close the day after the sticker date as in this case. On this day I bought a fixed price item at the outlet store with a retail store dated sticker of 7/25 and an outlet store sticker dated 7/30 right below it.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    15

    Default Re: Accidental Shoplifting in Oregon

    I think you have one very good thing going for you: You regularly purchase things from these stores. That would tend to prove that you didn't intentionally steal from them, which is a necessary element of the crime of theft. Do you have any more receipts or anything else you could supply as proof that you shop there frequently? If so, I would consider trying to contact the store manager/owner and letting them know of your situation. Tell them you do this as your business, and offer to prove how often you purchase from them. Maybe offer to pay for the items you accidentally took. If they agree to a compromise, then you could potentially get the charges dropped.

    For clarification, did you mean you were charged with Theft III, and that the remote bumped the value to Theft II? With crimes, the lower number is normally more serious, ie. First degree murder is more serious than second degree, and theft II is more serious than theft III.

    If you decide to go it alone, remember that you need to have as much evidence to help yourself as possible. Don't just go into court thinking you can tell your side of the story and expect the judge to rule in your favor. Bring anything you can think that will help your case and back up your testimony. Evidence that you regularly puchase and sell these items to make money will help you, so bank records, credit card records, receipts, etc... will all be good evidence. Be prepared to demonstrate how you could have dropped the items accidentally and taken them out of the store. That will potentially be tricky because I think it's hard to swallow the idea that you could have something in your hand one second, drop it, and not notice you dropped it or that it just happens to have fallen into your cart. How exactly did that happen anyway? You said you pick items up and then look them up on your dataphone, where do you put the items after you pick them up while you're checking on their value? Your story still sounds fishy to me without more detail.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: Accidental Shoplifting in Oregon

    Thanks for the reply ryanjm. I usualy walk through the stores and gather the items that look potentionaly interesting and place them in the cart next to the dog who is in the kid carrying portion, upper part, of the cart. (saves me from having to bend over). I then usually look them up on ebay or google using my dataphone to check if they are worth purchasing. I do this as I'm walking around in the aisles as it takes the phone time to retrieve the data. If its a worthwile item I keep and purchase, if not I put back on the shelf, usually where I found them when I go through on a second pass looking for things I might have missed on the first pass. On this day I did find something on the second pass, did research on the spot and then proceded to purchase that item and forgot to put the other two items back on the shelf as they had fallen between the dog blanket and plastic blue flap in the cart. Out of sight out of mind.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    15

    Default Re: Accidental Shoplifting in Oregon

    That sounds reasonable. As I said before, I would make every effort to get it settled with the store manager/owner and avoid having to pay an attorney. If you can't settle it, you'll have to decide whether to get an attorney or not. I'm not experienced enough with Oregon criminal law/procedure to say whether I think it would be a good idea or not in your case. At first glance it seems simple enough to defend yourself if you brought enough helpful evidence, but court procedure can be intimidating if you are unfamiliar with it.

    Hopefully someone more knowledgeable that me will chime in since this seems like a pretty terrible thing to have happen and then be forced to pay $3,000 to prove your innocence. Let us know if you decide to try and settle it and how that works out.

    1. Sponsored Links
       

Similar Threads

  1. Retail Fraud / Shoplifting: What are the Consequences of Accidental Shoplifting
    By Troyfrezze in forum Criminal Charges
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 01-16-2010, 03:47 PM
  2. Retail Fraud / Shoplifting: Banned from a Store After Accidental Shoplifting
    By morecowbell in forum Criminal Charges
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 03-11-2009, 04:48 PM
  3. Retail Fraud / Shoplifting: Accidental Shoplifting While on Medication
    By tetonmoon61 in forum Criminal Charges
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 02-13-2009, 06:08 AM
  4. Retail Fraud / Shoplifting: Accidental Shoplifting in New Jersey
    By worried77 in forum Criminal Charges
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 12-10-2008, 12:09 PM
  5. Retail Fraud / Shoplifting: Accidental Shoplifting of Jewelry
    By shadowmoonxx in forum Criminal Charges
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 10-20-2007, 01:23 PM
 
 
Sponsored Links

Legal Help, Information and Resources