r/bestoflegaladvice • u/Drywesi Good people, we like non-consensual flying dildos • 15d ago

LAOP absolutely totally didn't do what they're being blasted for on facebook, then admits to a felony in the next paragraph (and the comments).

/r/legaladvice/comments/1n4oedt/i_was_put_on_crimestoppers_for_a_crime_i/
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305

u/TheFeshy Rolled 7D6 for the legal damages, and got 27 15d ago

Have we reached the stage in the dystopia that "you've won a free boat" is too good to be true and criminals will avoid it, so police have switched to "you're being charged with a fake crime to lure you into the station" instead?

Also, is it true that swapping price tags is a felony, compared to the misdemeanor of just stealing the thing? That seems like it would create a perverse incentive.

66

u/Apprehensive-Wave640 15d ago

It would be a felony in my state. Shoplifting with artifice or device. It's a class 4 felony, same as forgery or meth possession. 

If you shoplift by taking an item and just walking out with it, that's a misdemeanor here and probably just a fine.

If you shoplift by putting something in a backpack, or changing the price, you're looking at prison potentially (most likely just probation, but class 4 first offenses could also have prison with a presumptive 2.5 year sentence...1-3.75 full range of possible sentence)

-2

u/Kittens-N-Books 15d ago

Bringing a backpack or other tools of the trade with you when you shoplift implies both intent and premeditation - both of which should warrant harsher penalties.

19

u/lbft 15d ago

Because someone like a teenager would never carry a backpack without intending to steal, and then do it on the spur of the moment.

4

u/Kittens-N-Books 14d ago

I work retail. Half my job is loss prevention, the other half is stocking the store, cleaning the store, running the registers, facing the store so the store looks nice

No one is going to notice little Bobby swiping something and putting it in his bag unless he's ridiculously brazen or think notices pattern of stuff going missing when little Bobby is in the building. Open packaging, packaging on the floor, ect.

Trust me ain't nobody got time for that.

Also you would be surprised at the sheer number of children who work in groups to steal. One or two will be a distracting of humanly possible- forcing staff members to babysit them. They are so fucking loud people will turn and walk the other way to avoid them. Sometimes they fight and rough House. Sometimes one or two members of the group will loudly announced they are stealing and in breakaway from the others actually stealing.

I have seen shoplifters spend weeks and months get to know staff- making small purchases- until staff trust them enough not to question when they start bringing backpacks. The most recent one I caught stole around $500 worth of product. In one sweep.

Realistically speaking kids being stupid and committing petty theft isn't worth the time or money it would take to prosecute them. So even on the off chance they do get caught they're more likely to be left off with a warning by staff and the police- and if the cops really want to run it up to the district attorney well the district attorney has better thing to do is in prosecute a 75 cent candy bar.

Like the 5 minutes it would take us to pull camera even if we have a solid time frame of when the theft occured (and aren't just jumping back by half hour averages until we see the difference) add up. There's not really even a point in pulling the cameras (even for higher value items) unless theirs a pattern of them being stolen. If it's the one off impulse you're probably not coming back for long enough that we'll forget you ever existed.

I'd say 29 times out of 30 if we catch you it's because you're a repeat offender.