Shoplifting Lawyer West Bloomfield

Arrested or Ticketed for Shoplifting in West Bloomfield, Michigan?

If you need to appear in Court for a West Bloomfield misdemeanor or felony shoplifting case, you need an experienced criminal defense lawyer who will fight on your behalf to help you. No matter if your accusation is from a large retailer or a small local West Bloomfield store, get attorney Daniel Hilf on your side for immediate action and steps taken toward achieving positive results. Shoplifting criminal defense specialist Daniel Hilf appears before the three Judges at the 48th District Court (in Bloomfield Hills), the 6th Circuit Court, and throughout Oakland County on a regular basis zealously defending all shoplifting charges.

Having to go before a District or Circuit Court Judge may seem overwhelming and depressing, but it is important to remember that facing a shoplifting allegation does not make you a bad person. In fact, shoplifting is prosecuted daily by the West Bloomfield City Attorney and the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, but it is often based upon a single allegation that is due to a temporary lapse in normally judgment. However, just because shoplifting accusations are heard at the 48th District Court and elsewhere in Oakland County on a frequent basis, it does not mean that there are not serious long term consequences or that it will not affect your life in a really bad way. Any conviction for shoplifting can have a life lasting impact, because a conviction may include any or all of the following outcomes: the loss of your freedom (incarceration); probation with strictly monitored conditions; loss of employment; professional licensing issues (for lawyers, nurses, stock brokers, doctors, 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. The bottom line is – you need the right defense help from an experienced attorney who is one hundred percent on your side.

A shoplifting accusation is rooted in a variety of theft based behaviors, such as: when store merchandise is stolen or an attempt to steal store merchandise is made; the price tag of the merchandise is intentionally changed to a lower price to defraud the store; or merchandise is fraudulently exchanged in order to obtain money or other store merchandise. Shoplifting allegations that are commonly prosecuted at the 48th District Court in West Bloomfield and other Michigan courtrooms 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, can choose to impose a probationary sentence instead of imposing incarceration].

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, can choose to impose a probationary sentence instead of imposing incarceration]. When it comes to Organized Retail Theft the intent of the Defendant is to commit retail fraud from one or more stores and then resell the stolen merchandise to others.

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, can choose to impose a probationary sentence instead of imposing incarceration].

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, can choose to impose a probationary sentence instead of imposing incarceration].

Removal of a Theft Detection Device is a misdemeanor charges that carries up to a 1 year maximum county jail sentence that is prosecuted under State law [the Judge, however, can choose to impose a probationary sentence instead of imposing incarceration].

Hire a Top Rated Lawyer for your West Bloomfield Michigan Allegation Who Specializes in Defending Shoplifting Accusations

Many stores in West Bloomfield and Oakland County have developed well formulated loss prevention policies with the goal of reducing retail fraud losses and lowering insurance costs, avoiding contested litigation, and deterring overall store theft. It is now common for a staff of coordinated loss prevention personnel with high-tech shoplifting prevention equipment (such as merchandise sensors and closed circuit television) to be found within a store for the purpose of combating the liabilities and costs associated with shoplifting. Even with the latest advanced technology, 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 to hire attorney Daniel Hilf for your alleged shoplifting incident, he will obtain all the available discovery materials to 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. Attorney Daniel Hilf will provide you solid and strong 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 be merciful with you. It is ultimately for you to decide if you want to seek a plea bargain (an agreement with the prosecution to dismiss or reduce the charge(s) against you) or seek a favorable sentence agreement (an agreement with the Judge and/or prosecutor to impose a specific sentence, such as avoiding or limiting any term of confinement) or proceed to trial to battle for an acquittal.

The first major decision for you, which you should not delay to make, is to hire aggressive shoplifting defense representation to help you obtain the best possible result for your circumstances. A shoplifting conviction will likely cause you a whole host of problems in addition to significant criminal penalties, including making it extremely hard to find a job or career, because many companies do not want to risk hiring someone convicted of any type of theft. Hire a leading shoplifting criminal defense attorney for your West Bloomfield based allegation – attorney Daniel Hilf – to help you, because attorney Hilf is widely respected throughout Oakland County, due to his over twenty years of experience inside and outside of Michigan courtrooms, and his legal acume,n to help individuals like yourself fight for favorable results.

If you have a Court date due to an alleged West Bloomfield shoplifting arrest or ticket, now is the right time to make an impactful and smart decision concerning your court representation by contacting Hilf & Hilf, PLC for the legal help you need.