Receiving a ticket or being arrested for a shoplifting charge in Royal Oak does not make you a bad person. In fact, shoplifting is a regularly prosecuted offense by both Royal Oak and Oakland County prosecutors, but it is often based only upon an single incident due to a temporary lapse in good judgment. However, just because these accusations are regularly heard at the 44th District Court (at 400 East 11 Mile Road in Royal Oak) or 6th Circuit Court (in Pontiac for felony cases that are bound over from District Court), it does not mean that there are not serious consequences or that it will not affect your life in a bad way, because any criminal record for shoplifting can have a long lasting impact. A shoplifting sentence may include and/or cause the following outcomes: the loss of your freedom (incarceration); probation with strictly monitored conditions; loss of job opportunities; professional licensing issues (for lawyers, accountants, nurses, stock brokers, etc.); loss of educational opportunities; steep fines and costs; immigration complications (for persons that are not United States citizens); and personal embarrassment. If you are faced with a shoplifting charge, you need a respected, experienced, top rated criminal defense lawyer who will aggressively fight for the best result.
There are several different types of behavior that all can result in a shoplifting charge: when store merchandise is stolen or an attempt to steal store merchandise is made by one or more individuals; the price tag of the merchandise is intentionally changed to a lower price; or merchandise is fraudulently exchanged for money or other store merchandise. There are several criminal shoplifting offenses that are commonly prosecuted in Royal Oak and throughout the State of Michigan, which include:
First Degree Retail Fraud is a felony charge that carries up to a 5 year maximum prison sentence 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 [the Judge, however, has the ability to not impose any jail or prison time].
Organized Retail Theft is felony charge that carries up to a 5 year maximum prison sentence that is also subject to applicable habitual offender sentencing provisions [the Judge, however, has the ability to not impose any jail or prison time]. The offense occurs when the Defendant’s alleged intent is to commit a retail fraud and to resell the stolen merchandise to another person or business – in essence the Defendant turned shoplifting into a commercial business.
Second Degree Retail Fraud is a misdemeanor charge that carries up to a 1 year maximum county jail sentence 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 [the Judge, however, has the ability to not impose any jail time].
Third Degree Retail Fraud is a misdemeanor charge that carries up to a 93 day maximum county jail sentence that is prosecuted under either State law or local ordinance when the merchandise involved in the offense is less than $200 (two hundred dollars) [the Judge, however, has the ability to not impose any jail time].
Removal of a Theft Detection Device is a misdemeanor charges that carries up to a 1 year maximum county jail sentence under State law [the Judge, however, has the ability to not impose any jail time].
Many stores in Royal Oak and across the United States have implemented well thought out loss prevention related procedures with the desire to reduce retail fraud losses and insurance costs, to avoid contested litigation, and to deter overall store theft. It is not uncommon for stores to now employ a team of loss prevention personnel using sophisticated shoplifting prevention equipment (merchandise sensors, closed circuit television, etc.) to battle against the costs and liabilities associated with retail fraud. Even with technology and rigorous loss protection training, mistakes are still made and persons are still sometimes falsely arrested due to errors in judgment (false identification, false interpretation of a situation, etc.), cultural issues, and procedural errors.
If you hire a criminal defense lawyer for your shoplifting incident, he or she 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, etc. It is your choice to have a trial in front of a Judge or jury and fight for an acquittal, or accept a plea or plea bargain (if a plea bargain is offered) and try and persuade the Judge to be lenient. The process of resolving your shoplifting arrest or ticket may include seeking a plea bargain (an agreement with the prosecution to dismiss or reduce the charge(s) against you) or seeking a sentence agreement (an agreement with the Judge and/or prosecutor to impose a specific sentence, such as avoiding or limiting any term of confinement).
Your first important decision should be to immediately hire an aggressive shoplifting defense lawyer to help you obtain the best possible result for your circumstances. As stated earlier, a shoplifting conviction will likely cause you many difficult problems throughout your life, including making it extremely hard to find a desirable job or career, because many employers do not want to risk hiring someone convicted of theft. Retain the leading defense lawyer for shoplifting cases in Royal Oak and throughout Oakland County – attorney Daniel Hilf – to help you. He is an impassioned, widely known criminal defense lawyer with over twenty years of experience helping clients fight for great results inside and outside of Michigan courtrooms.
If you have been accused of shoplifting merchandise from a store in Royal Oak or elsewhere in Michigan, it’s time to make an impactful, intelligent, and wise decision to contact Hilf & Hilf, PLC right away.