Shoplifting from Walmart

bakedbean

bakedbean

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 16, 2008
Messages
222
Location
Tennessee
ok. this is fucking stupid i know. i was broke off my ass n needed a lil bit of gas money to last me until my next paycheck. to make a long story short, we'd steal somethin little from walmart (usually somethin 10-20 bucks), then take it back the next day and return it and get a gift card and use it on gas. stupid i know and i'm not gonna do it any more. i was just desperate.
well me n my boy got stopped right before we walked out the door n it was one of the managers that worked there. he made us come with him back to his office. we didnt get arrested or anything but he took my ID and got my name and my social and all that bull shit. basically said that we were banned from walmart for a year and if we came back on walmart property then we'd be charged with the theft and arrested for trespassing. the police never got involved or anything, but they did get all of our information and put it in the walmart computer and they couldnt call my parents because i'm 18 now.
but here's the thing. i'm on probation for underage consumption. the police werent involved just walmart. do u think this little incident would get back to my probation officer? like i think if i was gonna get in trouble they woulda arrested me then instead of just banning me from walmart. i gotta go see my P.O. at the beginning of march n i dunno whats gonna happen. what do yall think..? :\
 
Having worked in retail, I'd say you shouldn't have any problem. 75% of loss prevention (security) is about deterring theft - and since it would be costly and time consuming to stop everyone who took everything, they'd rather show you that you can't get away with it...

Just count your blessings that they didn't want to press charges, and while you might get away with shopping there once or twice before the year is up, don't even risk getting caught by WalMart again. That means especially if you plan on stealing - even from a Wal-Mart in another town! Now that they have your info, I can promise you that if you get caught again, they will press charges. You basically got a get out of jail free card, so don't take advantage of it!
 
yeah i dont plan on it again. it was an 11 dollar item too. its kinda embarassing actually. but i just dont want somethin that stupid to get me a violation of probation charge.
 
they're unlikely to do anything. Having been a retail manager, most every time this thing occured it would be pointless to call police - the only reason I would do so is if I had need for a police report (to explain to my bosses why $x worth of stuff is missing).

This happened to me during my younger wreckless days at a best buy, very similar scenario (only I was just stealing cool electronics I didn't even really need, had no plan to sell, just dumb theft lol), they never did a thing, just tried to (and successfully did) scare me from ever returning to their store, at which point the problem's pretty much over on their end.
 
only certain personnel and loss prevention staff are legally allowed to physically apprehend you. Managers are not one of them. you should have told him to fuck off and booked it, even if he stopped you he wouldn't be able to press charges.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS IS WRONG FOR TWO REASONS: (1) the manager could and would call security, who will most likely stop you before you leave the store or get you in the parking lot. If you still have the goods on you, you're sunk. If the goods are sitting on the manager's desk, then the manager might be able to testify that he or she saw you steal them, depending on the circumstances. (2) We are not here to tell people how to break the law, and this advice runs right up to the edge of that or possibly crosses it. I don't want people to think they can book on a manager just to have security personnel tackle them when they could have skated with a warning as what appears to have happened here.
 
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I very, very well may be wrong, but I think apprehension rules vary by state. I know in MA we were definitely not permitted to apprehend anyone under any circumstances.
 
(1) the manager could and would call security, who will most likely stop you before you leave the store or get you in the parking lot.
Click to expand...

I don't remember if this is a GA state or federal law, but it's illegal for store personnel to physically detain someone outside of the actual store for shoplifting.
 
^ i don't think that is true as most states in the US have provisions for things like a "citizen's arrest" which allow non-police to arrest or at least detain until police arrive an individual who has been witnessed committing a crime.

I have a friend who works in LP and they rarely stop anyone until they actually leave the store. once they do leave the store they do detain them, with force if necessary
 
jam uh weezy said:
only certain personnel and loss prevention staff are legally allowed to physically apprehend you. Managers are not one of them. you should have told him to fuck off and booked it, even if he stopped you he wouldn't be able to press charges.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS IS WRONG FOR TWO REASONS: (1) the manager could and would call security, who will most likely stop you before you leave the store or get you in the parking lot. If you still have the goods on you, you're sunk. If the goods are sitting on the manager's desk, then the manager might be able to testify that he or she saw you steal them, depending on the circumstances. (2) We are not here to tell people how to break the law, and this advice runs right up to the edge of that or possibly crosses it. I don't want people to think they can book on a manager just to have security personnel tackle them when they could have skated with a warning as what appears to have happened here.
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Sorry johnny...i wasn't trying to tell him how to break the law. I'm not saying managers won't try to stop you, as they will. They can't physically do it themselves however. All they can try to do is let you know they saw you and see if you'll follow them, and notify lp/security. I was just saying that ONLY security personnel are allowed to detain him, as you said. The manager can only notify them and hope they catch him.

As soon as you're off the parking lot, even they can do nothing legally. They will probably notify the police however.
 
No problem, jam uh weezy. :)

Your point about the parking lot boundary sounds right to me. As far as managers <> loss prevention, keep in mind that Wal-Marts are huge stores, and if the manager's office is in the back, I think getting out of the store and then out of the parking lot while the manager is calling security on their radio could present a challenge.
 
bakedbean, did they take a photograph of you?

I ask this because I believe there is a database called the National Theft Registry where the you might wind up--and it could come back to haunt you in the future e.g., for job interviews and other stuff requiring background checks.
 
I realize that different stores have different policies, but I'll share something related.

A friend of mine worked at a Blockbuster video as a manager there. One of his employees tried to apprehend a shoplifter by blocking his exit. The shoplifter shoved her out of the way and she hurt her back in the process.

Due to the fact that they were trained never to try to obstruct or otherwise confront shoplifters, she was fired for insubordination.

As absurd as that sounds, I find that many companies will simply file a report for shoplifting but basically allow the person to leave the store with whatever they want.

Wal-Mart and other large department stores, due to the amount of traffic, will have much more in the way of security. It's best to keep that in mind.
 
why would a manager or any other employee not have the power to detain? I would assume this would be challenged in court.. if a manager detained the person and not security guard i can't see the person being let free, but I'm no lawyer so i dont know what is correct
 
^^^^ It would appear that preventing physical injuries and assaults outweighs the value of material goods. Makes a certain amount of sense...
 
Perhaps you need special training classes and a security guard certification from the state, which managers typically will not have. Just a guess.
 
tobala said:
bakedbean, did they take a photograph of you?

I ask this because I believe there is a database called the National Theft Registry where the you might wind up--and it could come back to haunt you in the future e.g., for job interviews and other stuff requiring background checks.
Click to expand...
they told me that they had our pictures on the camera from when we walked in, now i dont know how good those pictures could be or if they were just telling us that to try to scare us..
 
I am not sure what the definition of shoplifting is for Walmart, but in many places they have to give you every opportunity to pay for it and you have to ignore everyone. In other words, since you did not actually leave the store, but you did pass the checkstands perhaps that could be construed as attempted shoplifting..

On the other hand, unless the guy knew you were on probation, and was going to call the police there is little to no chance that your PO will find out...I think you skated by with a warning.
 
bakedbean said:
they told me that they had our pictures on the camera from when we walked in, now i dont know how good those pictures could be or if they were just telling us that to try to scare us..
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No, if they were going to report you to the Theft Registry, they would have taken a head shot after you were apprehended. This would be to verify identity in the event someone was using fake ID/SS numbers.

So I think you're okay on that front. :)
 
you're lucky,
A friend of mine found one of those blue vests hanging on a shelf and she just took it and put it on, then later put it in her bag and got caught walking out with it.
They told her she was banned for life from Wal-mart. Pretty harsh
 
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