If you need to go to the 16th District Court for your Livonia Michigan misdemeanor or felony retail fraud allegation, you need an exceptional criminal defense lawyer who will fight on your behalf. No matter if your accusation is from the Laurel Park Place Mall, the Livonia Marketplace, a national retail store (such as Walmart, Kohls, or Marshalls), or a locally based Livonia business we can help defend you. Get Attorney Daniel Hilf for your legal defense for immediate action and diligent steps taken toward achieving the best results given the facts and circumstances. Shoplifting criminal defense specialist Daniel Hilf appears before the Judges at the 16th District Court (32765 Five Mile Road, Livonia 48154), and throughout the metropolitan Detroit area on a regular basis, aggressively defending all retail fraud charges.
Having to go before the Court to address a retail fraud accusation may seem both depressing and overwhelming, but it is important to remember that facing a retail fraud allegation does not make you a bad person. In fact, retail fraud is prosecuted by the Livonia City Attorney and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office on a regular basis, but it is often based upon one single allegation of attempted shoplifting due to a temporary lapse in judgment. However, just because retail fraud charges are heard daily at the 16th District Court and elsewhere in Wayne County it does not mean that there are not serious long term repercussions or that it will not affect your life in a really negative way. Any retail theft conviction can potentially have a long term impact on your future, because a sentence from this conviction may include any or all of the following outcomes: the loss of your freedom (incarceration); probation with strict supervisory conditions; loss of employment; professional licensing issues (for lawyers, accountants, nurses, stock brokers, and other positions that require State or Federal licensing); loss of educational opportunities; steep fines and costs; immigration complications (for persons that are not United States citizens); and personal embarrassment. Without a shadow of a doubt – you need a top rated attorney with many years of experience who is one hundred percent on your side working on your behalf.
A shoplifting accusation can be committed in several different manners, including: when store merchandise is stolen or an attempt to steal store merchandise is made by a person; when the price tag of the merchandise is intentionally changed to a lower price to defraud the store; or when merchandise is fraudulently exchanged in order to obtain money or other store merchandise. Felony and misdemeanor retail fraud cases that are prosecuted at the 16th District Court in Livonia and other courtrooms in Michigan include the following:
First Degree Retail Fraud is a felony charge that carries up to a 5 year maximum prison sentence (however, you can avoid any form of incarceration at the discretion of the Judge assigned to your case) that is prosecuted when the merchandise involved is $1,000 (one thousand dollars) or more, or if the merchandise involved is $200 (two hundred dollars) or more and the person has a prior theft conviction.
Organized Retail Theft is felony charge that carries up to a 5 year maximum prison sentence (however, you can avoid any form of incarceration at the discretion of the Judge assigned to your case) that is also subject to applicable habitual offender sentencing provisions. The allegation is prosecuted in Livonia and other courtrooms when the prosecution believes it has probable cause that the intent of the accused is to commit retail theft from one or more stores and then resell the stolen merchandise to other persons or businesses.
Second Degree Retail Fraud is a misdemeanor charge that carries up to a 1 year maximum county jail sentence (however, you can avoid any form of incarceration at the discretion of the Judge assigned to your case), that is prosecuted when the merchandise involved is at least $200 (two hundred dollars) but less than $1000 (one thousand dollars), or if the merchandise involved is under $200 (two hundred dollars) and the person has a prior theft conviction.
Third Degree Retail Fraud is a misdemeanor charge that carries up to a 93 day maximum county jail sentence (however, you can avoid any form of incarceration at the discretion of the Judge assigned to your case), that is prosecuted under either State law or local ordinance, when the merchandise involved in the offense is less than $200 (two hundred dollars).
Removal of a Theft Detection Device is a misdemeanor charges that carries up to a 1 year maximum county jail sentence (however, you can avoid any form of incarceration at the discretion of the Judge assigned to your case), that is prosecuted under State law.
Many businesses in Livonia and across America have implemented well thought out loss prevention policies with the goal of reducing retail fraud losses, avoiding contested litigation, and deterring others from committing store theft. A team of coordinated asset protection employees and surveillance equipment (such as merchandise sensors and closed circuit television) are commonly found within malls and large stores for the purpose of combating the liabilities and costs associated with retail theft. Even with the best and most up to date technology and extensive training, mistakes are still made and persons are still sometimes falsely arrested due to errors in judgment (such as false identification and false interpretation of a situation), cultural issues, and procedural errors.
If you choose attorney Daniel Hilf to defend your retail fraud accusation, he will obtain all the available discovery materials to fully and properly defend you, which can include the following: police report(s), loss prevention report(s), witness statement(s), in store video(s), police video(s), photograph(s), statement(s) the police and/or loss prevention claims that you made. He will provide you with well reasoned, courtroom tested, advice concerning whether to conduct a trial in front of a Judge or jury, or whether to choose to accept a plea or plea bargain and try and persuade the Judge to sentence you reasonably and leniently. It is ultimately for you to decide how you want to proceed.
You should not delay, and you should hire aggressive legal representation to help you. As stated earlier, a shoplifting related conviction will likely cause many problems in addition to the strict criminal penalties, including making it extremely difficult to find a well paying job or a great career, because many companies do not want to risk hiring someone convicted of stealing. Hire a highly respected defense attorney for your Livonia based allegation – attorney Daniel Hilf – to help you, because his legal acumen and his over twenty years of experience inside and outside of Michigan courtrooms is exactly the type of legal representation that you need to confront a retail fraud charge.
If you have Court due to a Livonia Michigan shoplifting arrest or ticket, now is the time to make an impactful decision concerning your in court representation. Contact Hilf & Hilf, PLC to schedule an appointment ASAP to obtain the high quality legal defense that you need and deserve.