It is a different story when you consider situations where a person stole an item and then later felt badly and returned the item. In this instance, the original intent was still to permanently keep the item in question. Because intent is present, it is entirely possible to prosecute a person for stealing an item they later return.
The return is irrelevant to the charges. The person took the item on purpose and permanently, and that is all the prosecution needs to know to seek justice. However, this does not mean that you should not return something that you have taken.
If you return an item that you have stolen, you have a greater chance of a lighter sentence. The court will likely take your act of remorse into account and charge you accordingly. If you simply keep the item, the court will likely stick you with more strict theft punishments. This category of theft is a bit varied. If you return something that was given to you and you are unaware that it was stolen, you will likely be questioned by law enforcement.
If you can prove that you did not know that the item was stolen, it is unlikely that you will face any serious consequences. However, if you stole the item yourself or knew that the item was stolen and tried to return it for cash or store credit, your act is considered a crime. The theft will be categorized with the item at hand as either petty theft or grand theft and punished accordingly. The responsibility to prove that someone has stolen an item with the intent to permanently keep it instead of borrowing it is placed on the prosecution.
There are several ways that this can be done, depending on the circumstances. The most straightforward type of proof is incriminating evidence. This is the most obvious way to prove that theft has occurred. However, actions can be used as evidence as well. If they can prove this, a theft can be classified. There are situations in which actions can be used in your favor to prove that you meant to return the property from the beginning. Your neighbor arrives home earlier than you expected and reports his grill missing to the police, and they find the grill in your yard.
If you return the grill and explain the situation, it is entirely possible that no legal action will be taken. However, this depends on your relationship with your neighbor and his willingness to drop the charges. Technically, he would have the right to charge you with theft if he wanted to, though there likely would not be much of a case to hold up in court. Under penal code , taking property that has been lost without first making a reasonable effort to find the owner is considered theft.
While this may be difficult to prove, it certainly can be done, especially with increasing surveillance. However, it is important to know that if the person should discover that you took their lost item without an attempt to find its rightful owner, you could technically be charged.
This is more of an issue with items like credit cards, wallets, cell phones, etc. It is much easier to find the owners for these items and much more reasonable that the law asks you to do so. The specific punishment you receive for stealing something depends on several factors. Your criminal history and the circumstances of the theft will likely come into play when deciding what specific sentence is appropriate. January 21, By Matthew Wallin. What Charges Could I Face?
What are My Defenses? Such evidence may lead to no criminal charges being filed or your charges being dismissed.
View all of Matthew Wallin's posts. Previous post 6 Common Road Rage Crimes. Practice area. Contact Us Now If you or a loved one have been accused of a crime, now is the time to contact us. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. July 9, By Paul Wallin.
October 14, By Paul Wallin. It's popular for crooks to steal an item from a store and then "return" them for the refund. Aren't they required to have a paper receipt - wouldn't that cut down on this? Do some thieves make their own fake receipts? Doesn't the bar code system make it harder for people to do this? Question about bar codes: Does the bar code on an item, like a TV, have only the type of item, or does it have something unique for each TV?
When stores insist on a receipt, then they turn off people who receive a gift they can't use. Many companies tried to work around this by issuing a "gift receipt" no price listed to be included in the package, but that still requires to giver to make sure it's enclosed. The bar codes are generic, not individual to each item sold. Most stores will give a store credit without any receipt, but if the merchandise was stolen to begin with, they still lose money. What numerous stores are doing now is requesting drivers licenses and typing all the information into their computer systems.
If nothing pops up then usually a gift card is issued at the lowest price over the past 30 days. And even if they use the gift card and later try returning it again, all they will end up with is another gift card. I work in retail so hopefully my answer helps. We will usually take back the item, but you will get the lowest price in the last 90 days and store credit. We must first input the information on your driver's license before processing the return.
Now, I think the following is more prevalent based on my experience; people will purchase things and then come back to the store another day.
They will take the same items off the shelf at this time and try to return them with the receipt. Loss Prevention usually catches them via the cameras and tells me to decline the refund. In my experience, the person made an excuse to do something, and then they ended up not coming back lol. In regards to the bar code, the UPC is only specific to the general product, not to each separate item.
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