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Shoplifting question

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fizzlefry
Posts: 4662 - Karma: 15
a friend of mine was caught shoplifting from a grocery store. he never left the store with the items before he was stopped. the manager took him into his office and took down his information. because he was compliant the manager didnt call the police but threatened to contact them and press charges if he doesnt come back and pay for the items he was going to steal (less than $10 worth) plus  $60 because the manager thought he had stolen from the store before. he said he looked like an experienced shoplifter because he didnt hesitate or look back and get nervous when heading towards the door.  When he took down his name he spelt it wrong but he still has his ss number and such. can he report the crime after 3 weeks? does my friend legally have to go back and pay? how would this hold up in court? im not trying to justify shoplifting. its a crime for a reason but wasnt the manager also in the wrong legally by not contacting the police and kind of blackmailing him? what do you think? any help is much apreciated.
Oct 22 2008 12:34AM
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prontocuts.com
Posts: 5244 - Karma: 42
Im confused, the manager is making the kid pay for something he didn't steal? A good manager would just tell the kid to drop it, and never come back to the store ever again.

And he may be able to press charges, but for $60 in goods, its not worth his money or time
Oct 22 2008 12:39AM
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Sewardo
Posts: 1404 - Karma: 29
im not overly experienced with this but just tell your bud to pay for what he was stealing at least and talk to the manager about proof of the $60 worth of supposed stolen goods and say he will not pay it unless there is some solid proof. if the manager tells the cops after the day it happened he may get in trouble for taking matters into his own hands and everything could be overturned. who knows tho, just my thoughtsss
Oct 22 2008 12:39AM
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TheMafia
Posts: 316 - Karma: -85
A good rule for shoplifting... only steal from a store once.. even if u didnt get "caught" the first time the store supervisors or employees may have noticed after. I think the manager is just giving him something of  a scare factor and doesnt need to go back and pay.. And ya shoplifting items with little to no value is completly retarded if your gonna steal shit atleast make it worth it. I dont think shoplifting is morally wrong atleast against big corporations. It is howevor horribly wrong morally to do it in family owned joints.
Oct 22 2008 12:40AM
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ilikeplants
Posts: 1868 - Karma: 17

he shouldn't have to pay the $10 or $60 if he didnt actually leave the store with the items and the manager has no hard evidence of him stealing before so thats bullshit. if they had a video tape of him before then he could have him pay

no idea about the 3 week thing though, sorry bro

Oct 22 2008 12:40AM
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hiphopopotamus
Posts: 1177 - Karma: 45
why does he has his ss number thats not safe
Oct 22 2008 12:42AM
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fizzlefry
Posts: 4662 - Karma: 15
he was trying to steal chicken from the deli and a soda from a chain grocery store. safeway
Oct 22 2008 12:44AM
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fizzlefry
Posts: 4662 - Karma: 15
 idunno i guess he just asked for all his information.
Oct 22 2008 12:44AM
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Sewardo
Posts: 1404 - Karma: 29
wow i feel bad for your bud. I would have made all my information up cuz if its a cop then he has a legit way to make sure you are who you say you are but if its some store manager its not like he can look you up in a system and check anything.  Hopefully your bud gets out of this without police involvment, cops are dickssss
Oct 22 2008 12:47AM
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cobra_commander
Posts: 16909 - Karma: 4,686
the crime can still be reported,

or your friend can go charge him with extortion.

hmm misdemeanor theft, or extortion, most your friend will get is a little community service and banned from that store/chain of stores. extortion on the other hand…

even though you have very little evidence, just his word vs. the managers, although the factor that the manager held off of filling charges for a few weeks would cast some suspicion. still it would scare the manager a little.
Oct 22 2008 12:49AM
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Sewardo
Posts: 1404 - Karma: 29
^agreed
Oct 22 2008 12:55AM
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fizzlefry
Posts: 4662 - Karma: 15
tell me more?
Oct 22 2008 12:56AM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
no you don't need to know any more from bull shit NS legal. Tell your buddy to pay whatever he has to pay and never go back to that store. He will have no recourse with cops or judges so just deal with that guy and don't get tough. He was being an idiot pay the idiot tax.
Oct 22 2008 1:18AM
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fizzlefry
Posts: 4662 - Karma: 15
go away :)
Oct 22 2008 1:47AM
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Nicholas.
Posts: 10905 - Karma: 60
tell him to give him the ten plus maybe a couple dollars, dont give him sixty...thats bullshit and the guy knows he cant prove anything...let the guy have some extra bucks so he feels like he is doing something productive, but do not give him 60 dollars.
Oct 22 2008 1:54AM
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ATLskier
Posts: 8203 - Karma: 406
give him $10 plus bubble gum and coupons to free dinners at benigans...its worked to settle the canadian strike in south park. There no way it wouldnt work at safeway. benigans is the shit.
Oct 22 2008 2:01AM
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quixotic
Posts: 6937 - Karma: 2,978

I used to work at a store called ShopKo which is similar to Target/Walmart/k-mart and we couldn't take people into the office and call the police for shoplifting until after they walked through the doors outside.

If your friend only had shit in his pockets and hadn't tried to go out the door yet, then technically he hasn't stolen it because he could still have the intent to pay if he is in the store.  If that's the case, he pretty much screwed himself over by admitting to being in the act of shoplifting because otherwise he could have argued that he still had the intent to pay and the manager couldn't prove that it was going to be stolen.

Oct 22 2008 9:32AM
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Dustin.
Posts: 13839 - Karma: 7,704
That's what I was thinking, that is so stupid to give that out to anyone these days.  Even at my job we just use our last 4.
Oct 22 2008 10:12AM
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potatofarmer
Posts: 2020 - Karma: 13
I'd pay the $10 and say fuck you about the other $60. the guy didnt see him before and cant just say that he stole $60 worth of stuff just for the hell of it. seeing as that money will probably just go right into the managers pocket anyway.  and your friend should noootttt have given him his SS number... that was a bad idea.
Oct 22 2008 11:13AM
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*V-Love*
Posts: 500 - Karma: 19
thats exactly what i was thinking... i would never give anyone my ss
Oct 22 2008 11:18AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
have any of you ever worked in a big chain store? I have, and if the manager says that he can prove he's stolen before, i'm willing to bet he can. How often does he go to that store? They might have videotapes of him stealing multiple times, and opted to bust him this time as a warning because he's probably just a kid and they don't always wanna screw people over. And believe me, if he's stolen before, they know it. Most stores have cameras everywhere, not just the obvious ones you can see. Tell him to pay the $10, and to ask more about the $60 and how they could prove it. If they can, he'd better pay that as well, if they can't, either negotiate, or don't pay.

What my store would do was build a case. We would let someone steal something, they would get comfortable, steal more, higher value things, and then we'd get them, and use the tapes of the other items stolen to screw them over. Trust me, in a big modern chain store, there is almost never a successful shoplifting, even if you got away with the item. Your best bet then would be to never go near that store ever again, because they will remember. When i worked there I absolutely loved busting people shoplifting, i mean honestly, why the fuck would people bother to steal some of the stuff that was like $10?
Oct 22 2008 11:51AM
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T-Holt
Posts: 5020 - Karma: 639
You hit the nail on the head.
There is no way to press charges / make him pay because he never actually stole the item.  It is not stealing if you take something off the shelf and walk around with it even with the intent to steal it, because you haven't left the premises yet.  The manager does have the right to ban him from the store because it is private property, but I say don't pay because no crime was committed.
Oct 22 2008 11:54AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
shit i never even saw this post. But you got it exactly right. Technically speaking, it's not stealing until he walks through those doors. But by saying he was going to steal it, he busted himself. He could have said that he had to put it in his pocket or something because it was slipping out of his hands when he was trying to get his phone or something, and they couldn't do anything about it.

But there still could be a way out, unless he wrote down, or (with his consent) admitted it into a tape recorder. The manager seems to be taking the law into his own hands, and the random $60 charge could be used against him, especially if he can't prove your friend admitted to planning on stealing it. Because he seems to have made up (or not, once again, he needs to get more details on this) a $60 fee for a crime he may not have committed. I'm just saying, if he made up a bullshit charge, then who's to say he didn't make up a bullshit admission of guilt?
Oct 22 2008 12:06PM
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C.R.E.A.M
Posts: 2987 - Karma: 4,575

yea that guy should not have his social, that kids parents need to go back and make sure that he isnt saving it to use later, i know they will take it now when you are young, and when you turn 18 or 19 fuck you over, i have heard of teachers doing it to students.

also if he never stole it, theres no proof that he was gonna steal it, pay the 10 bucks and tell the manager to suck dick you know that 60 is going into his pocket, if anything write a check and make it out to safeway corperate. then he wont be able to cash it.

but dont steal you idiot, and what kinda deushe takes food from kids trying to steal it?

Oct 22 2008 12:19PM
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Fish_Sandwich.
Posts: 9108 - Karma: 16
Don't try to get out of it, just own up to it and pay the consequences, $10 +whatever else, but probably not $60 unless he has proof, if in fact your friend did steal from there before then he should pay $60 for being a dumbshit.
Don't do the extortion thing, that is so fucking retarded.
Oct 22 2008 2:20PM
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Casey
Posts: 7849 - Karma: 24,317
Your friend is really lucky to just pay the grocery store and get the hell out of there. Even if they can't "PROVE" that he stole it, they can still press charges, and you'll still go to court. So unless your friend is prepared to lie to a jury in court at a trial, and hope that they believe him (which why would they?) then he should just pay the grocery store and get it over with.
Oct 22 2008 5:37PM
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Ben.
Posts: 21463 - Karma: 683
Your friends a fucking idiot. SS number? why the fuck would he give him that?
Oct 22 2008 6:04PM
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Style+eeze
Posts: 6901 - Karma: 551
yeah, he should pay $10 and tell the manager to suck some dick^^^ as said above

AND HE SHOULD LEARN A FUCKING LESSON!!!!!
Oct 22 2008 6:10PM
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MCIRONCOCK
Posts: 3094 - Karma: 30
What kind of retard would give their social security number to the manager of a supermarket?
Oct 22 2008 6:35PM
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skiblandford
Posts: 1503 - Karma: 2
i cant believe that he gave is social number to some random dude you ussulally dont have to give out ur SS number any more to any thing at all
Oct 22 2008 6:41PM
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EH_DUBS
Posts: 3080 - Karma: 969
he gave his ss number to the manager of a supermarket...holy tell your friend that he should never do that.

if i were you id get his parents to go down there and make sure he dosent have any record of that. get your friend to pay the manager the 10 bucks and (if he hasnt stole from there before) tell the manager that he believes there has been a mistake and that simply because it seemed like he was "experienced" at shoplifting does not mean he stole 60 dollars from his store.

just be polite. but id definatly try to do something about him having your friends ss number.
Oct 22 2008 6:44PM
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Sky.
Posts: 1158 - Karma: 287
wronge, i work in a grocery (bag-boy at Giant Food market) and if a person is caught concealing an item IE: in a purse, jacket, backpack, or anything of that nature it is considered stealing and you can be arrested for it even if you are apprehended before you leave the building
Oct 22 2008 6:48PM
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doublexl
Posts: 8407 - Karma: 27
wait wait wait...

your friend gave the guy his social security number?

i woulda been like fuck off homie, ill even dial the police for you before im givin you shit like that.
Oct 22 2008 7:07PM
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