Burgulary or Shoplifting?

[bbrwniii]

A friend was recently arrested for taking a shirt unlawfully from a department store. He is being charged with burglary? The price of the shirt is $35.00. Aren't there limits to the price of merchandise for the police to consider the crime shopplifting, burglary, petty theft etc. To my knowledge $35.00 is not high enough for his stupid mistake to be considered a felony burglary. What should my friend be charged with? He lives in California.

 

[racer72]

I would assume for the prosecutor to go that far your friend has had other run ins with the law. If he was on probation or if he had been banned from the store, the charges sound correct.

 

[FKNA]

bbrwnii...are you stating that your friend is being charged with burglary, or is that a statement? If they have been charged with that, I see the DA pleading it out to shoplifting. Because they really don't have a strong case for burglary. Read below California penal code section 459.

459. Every person who enters any house, room, apartment, tenement,
shop, warehouse, store, mill, barn, stable, outhouse or other
building, tent, vessel, as defined in Section 21 of the Harbors and
Navigation Code, floating home, as defined in subdivision (d) of
Section 18075.55 of the Health and Safety Code, railroad car, locked
or sealed cargo container, whether or not mounted on a vehicle,
trailer coach, as defined in Section 635 of the Vehicle Code, any
house car, as defined in Section 362 of the Vehicle Code, inhabited
camper, as defined in Section 243 of the Vehicle Code, vehicle as
defined by the Vehicle Code, when the doors are locked, aircraft as
defined by Section 21012 of the Public Utilities Code, or mine or any
underground portion thereof, with intent to commit grand or petit
larceny or any felony is guilty of burglary. As used in this
chapter, "inhabited" means currently being used for dwelling
purposes, whether occupied or not. A house, trailer, vessel designed
for habitation, or portion of a building is currently being used for
dwelling purposes if, at the time of the burglary, it was not
occupied solely because a natural or other disaster caused the
occupants to leave the premises.

 

[JETX]

FKNA: If your response is based on the issue of 'inhabited', that only applies to 'campers'.

The key here is that this 'petite' burglary occurred in "any house, room, apartment, tenement, shop, warehouse, store, mill, barn, stable, outhouse or other building, tent," etc.

I think the problem here is that our writer is assuming that their is a crime called "shoplifting". There isn't. This is called 'larceny' and there are two classes; grand and petty. This person has been charged with 'petty larceny' and since it was done at a store, that makes it burglary, by definition.

From the California State Bar:
"Laws which outlaw theft in California come in many different forms. Stealing or shoplifting is legally called larceny and is defined as the stealing, taking, carrying, or driving away with someone else's personal property. This means a parent or a child can be charged with larceny for failing to pay for something, whether it is a meal at a restaurant or merchandise in a store. Fraudulent use of a credit card and credit card theft are also common larceny offenses. This also applies to the theft or forgery of a bank access card to obtain anything of value or to initiate any transfer of funds. Along these lines, any person who uses the number or code of a credit card, personal identification number, computer password, access code, bank account number or any other number as a way to avoid paying for a service or product is guilty of larceny.

There are two degrees of larceny: grand larceny and petty larceny. Grand larceny involves stealing property or services which have a value in excess of $400, or farm crops or agricultural products valued in excess of $100; taking property from another person; taking an auto or firearm; or taking certain animals, gold dust or quicksilver from someone. Petty theft involves the taking of something worth less than $400 (P.C. §§ 182.5, 186.22). The punishment for grand theft is up to one year in a county jail or state prison. Petty theft is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or six months in a county jail, or both (P.C. §502; C.C. § 1714.1). Some forms of theft and other crimes which arise from gang activity are subject to enhanced penalties."

 

[FKNA]

Halket....no, my response is not based on "inhabited" in the penal code. But instead, my response is based on "The price of the shirt is $35.00". Unless this is a third offense, I don't see how they can be charged with a felony. And if it is a third offense and they are charged with a felony, DA will plead it down to a misdemeanor because he/she would be hard pressed in finding a jury that's going to send someone to prison, on a felony charge, for a lousy $35.

 

[JETX]

The original post only said that the charge was burglary, not felony burglary ("He is being charged with burglary?"). Later in the post there was mention of felony burglary, but not that it was the charge.

But, in all fairness, the original poster further confused the entire issue with " What should my friend be charged with?".
Answer: Petite Larceny or Petty Burglary (same thing). Generally, one thing about the difference between felony crime and misdemeanor is that felony is usually over one year of incarceration. In this case, since petty and grand both are 12 months or less, I assume that neither of them are considered felony counts.

It is possible that our writer is very confused about the entire subject, especially considering that the question mentions shoplifting, burglary and felony, all of which can't be right.

 

[FKNA]

The original post only said that the charge was burglary, not felony burglary ("He is being charged with burglary?"). Later in the post there was mention of felony burglary, but not that it was the charge.

And it was the mention of a "felony burglary" later in the post that I decided to address since it would be the most serious charge.

I'm not sure if our poster is "confused" or just has many questions as to what their friend could be charged with.

 

[calatty]

Prosecutors in CA are routinely charging shopliftings as burglaries now because shoplifting is a misdemeanor, whereas burglary is a felony. A number of people in CA are serving 25 to life under the Three Strikes law for simple shopliftings charged and convicted as burglaries. Burglary is defined as entering a building with the intent to commit a felony or theft inside. It does not matter if the item the person steals is worth $2 or $2000. To charge a shoplifting as a burglary, the prosecution has to have some evidence that the person intended a theft when he entered - for example, that he brought a bag with him in which to stash the loot and that he had no money on him. Or that he entered the store, laid some goods aside, left the store, and returned into the store and took them.

 

[bbrwniii]

Thank you for answering my question. My friend did take a bag into the store to store the loot and also went in with no money. So, from your answer I suppose he will be charged with felony buglary. Oh well, maybe this will teach him a lesson.