Charged With Theft3 in Washington

What is the name of your state? washington

A friend of mine recently was caught and charged with shoplifting two small items amounting to no more than ten dollars. Despite efforts to talk his way out he was charged and because it was going to take a while to get picked up by his parent he was brought into custody by the SPD.

He was told that this was going to be between him and the store, and that no public record was to be filed. a fine of $200 and a ban from the store for a year was to be put in action.

fair enough.

However after several months he gets a letter in the mail saying that he must now go to diversion court to discuss the crime with community members. he must fill out a sheet discussing possible community service.

the rights displayed say that he can ask to have all public records destroyed over the matter but if they are not than public record can be seen by police and also by his school principal.

This is very confusing to my friend considering he thought that there was to be no public record and the small incident was to be between him and the store alone.

all my friend wants to do is put this incident behind him.

what advice can you give my confused and anxious friend?

thanks very much.

When a person is brought into custody by the nice police people, there is a slim to none chance of leaving this as a matter between your friend and the store.

theft3

my friend was told by the officer who took him in that the matter would not be on police record.

the sole purpose for taking him into custody was the fact that his parents could not pick him up right away. the precinct was a holding area so to speak.

How old is your friend and did the police talk to the parents when they went to pick your friend up at the police station?

I am guessing that, in lieu of the $200 fine (since it was only $10 worth of merchandise taken and the merchandise was returned), the police decided (perhaps in consultation with the store and possibly the parents) that community service might be a better idea for your friend.

After the community service requirement is fulfilled, the record of the shoplifting can be "expunged" (which is sort of like erased). If it is expunged, then the school principal will not see anything. The record of the shoplifting is sealed and it will never have to be reported to anyone at anytime (unless there is another mini-crime spree by your friend...then the police and the FBI can access the record).

theft3

My friend is 15.

New information however.

The 200 dollar fine is actually the fine that king county makes you pay for going to diversion court in the first place, i assume that some sort of community service will be applied as a humbling experience.

Hopefully this whole fiasco will go as smoothly as possible for my friend and no community service is applied, as, he has little to no free time between homework and work. (Work, which he is quick to point out is paying off his debt and punishment from his parents.)

I imagine the whole experience has been a humbling experience for your friend!

I am glad to hear that your friend is having to work to pay off the $200 fine, and good for the parents for imposing some punishment. The community service requirement will probably be something that your friend can work in between studies and job - but I doubt if he will have much free time for a while.

After the community service requirement is fulfilled, the record of the shoplifting can be "expunged" (which is sort of like erased). If it is expunged, then the school principal will not see anything. The record of the shoplifting is sealed and it will never have to be reported to anyone at anytime (unless there is another mini-crime spree by your friend...then the police and the FBI can access the record

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Expunged just means it's removed from Public viewing. It is NOT erased. Law enforcement, the FBI, and the US Government will be able to see it.

Hey, PJ - Your definition of expunged is probably better than the one I used but, just for the record, I never said "erased". My exact words were "sort of like erased", which I am SURE is definition #2 in Webster's.