My question involves criminal law for the state of: PA
Our family moved from PA to SC 2 months ago. Today in the mail my daughter received a certified letter stating she has to be fingerprinted in 2 days and appear in court in 2 1/2 weeks for a charge of retail theft by a store that claims to have her on video from 9 months ago. She was never arrested or even stopped at the store for shoplifting. They say she took clothing worth $70. The certified letter is from the magistrate and the first sentence says that they had received her plea of "not guilty" and she needs to be in court for trial the second week of September. She never gave a plea to anything. She has no idea why or where these charges are coming from. We can't afford to just take off work and drive 12 hours to PA to be fingerprinted in 2 days then make another trip for a trial. We don't know what to do. We can't afford an attorney either. Someone please any advice?![]()

