genius1_2B
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Michigan
When I was 19 years old, I worked for a major sporting good store. The store had really good deals on their merchandise, and because the employees were the first to see the new arrivals, we usually got first picks on the merchandise. The manager's usually let the employees store their unpurchased clothes in the back room by our lockers. Sometimes, you'd come back to find that another employee had took your clothing and put it back on the racks only to have a customer buy it.
So some employees got fed up and started storing their unpurchased clothing in their lockers. Some paid for them and some didn't. I was one of the employees who held my clothes in my locker and paid for them on my lunch break. During my time here with this company, I NEVER STOLE ANYTHING out of the store. I paid for all of my selections...sometimes almost spending my whole paycheck there buying stuff.
TO make a long story short, we had a LOSS PREVENTION MANAGER come in and talk to the employees by having one on one conversations. On this particular visit, I was one of the employees who she wanted to speak with. We talked about the store, about my personal life and where I wanted to go in life. She then starts telling me about the camera devices that store has and what it shows people doing. She said it shows alot of people stealing clothes and they wanted to catch those that were stealing. She then questioned me about whether or not I had ever stolen any merchandise from the retailer store. I told her NO!
She then gets loud and critical with me and asked me what was in my locker. At that point, I remember I had some items in there that I was going to be purchasing once I got my next paycheck. The items totaled no more than $40.
Without hesitation, I told her everything that was in my locker. She then got mad because I assume that she wanted me to lie so that she could send the police in. She kept saying that she was one telephone call away from sending in the officer to arrest me if I didn't admit to stealing any type of merchandise. I told her the truth...that I had never stolen anything from the store and I was sticking to that.
We open up my locker and I give her the items that were in my locker. She has me write a letter of apology to the store claiming that it was the only way I had a chance of keeping my job. I wrote the letter in detail explaining the situation and my intentions not to steal anything. Then I sign it. Nothing else. She call in the store manager and I am asked to leave the store. They would notify me if I was to return to work.
They called me 3 days later saying that I was terminated. That was 2 YEARS AGO. I now have a great job working full time while attending a state university. Just last week, I got a letter indicating me that a law firm that represents the company that I worked for was ordering me to pay $650 for damages to their store.
My question is: Is there some sort of statute of limitations regarding this matter? This was 2 years ago so how can they come at me now? Not only that, but I wasn't arrested, the police were not notified, and I never signed any papers that I admitted to stealing or attempted to steal any merchandise. How do I go about this? Should I pay the restitution fee? Thanks for your replies.
When I was 19 years old, I worked for a major sporting good store. The store had really good deals on their merchandise, and because the employees were the first to see the new arrivals, we usually got first picks on the merchandise. The manager's usually let the employees store their unpurchased clothes in the back room by our lockers. Sometimes, you'd come back to find that another employee had took your clothing and put it back on the racks only to have a customer buy it.
So some employees got fed up and started storing their unpurchased clothing in their lockers. Some paid for them and some didn't. I was one of the employees who held my clothes in my locker and paid for them on my lunch break. During my time here with this company, I NEVER STOLE ANYTHING out of the store. I paid for all of my selections...sometimes almost spending my whole paycheck there buying stuff.
TO make a long story short, we had a LOSS PREVENTION MANAGER come in and talk to the employees by having one on one conversations. On this particular visit, I was one of the employees who she wanted to speak with. We talked about the store, about my personal life and where I wanted to go in life. She then starts telling me about the camera devices that store has and what it shows people doing. She said it shows alot of people stealing clothes and they wanted to catch those that were stealing. She then questioned me about whether or not I had ever stolen any merchandise from the retailer store. I told her NO!
She then gets loud and critical with me and asked me what was in my locker. At that point, I remember I had some items in there that I was going to be purchasing once I got my next paycheck. The items totaled no more than $40.
Without hesitation, I told her everything that was in my locker. She then got mad because I assume that she wanted me to lie so that she could send the police in. She kept saying that she was one telephone call away from sending in the officer to arrest me if I didn't admit to stealing any type of merchandise. I told her the truth...that I had never stolen anything from the store and I was sticking to that.
We open up my locker and I give her the items that were in my locker. She has me write a letter of apology to the store claiming that it was the only way I had a chance of keeping my job. I wrote the letter in detail explaining the situation and my intentions not to steal anything. Then I sign it. Nothing else. She call in the store manager and I am asked to leave the store. They would notify me if I was to return to work.
They called me 3 days later saying that I was terminated. That was 2 YEARS AGO. I now have a great job working full time while attending a state university. Just last week, I got a letter indicating me that a law firm that represents the company that I worked for was ordering me to pay $650 for damages to their store.
My question is: Is there some sort of statute of limitations regarding this matter? This was 2 years ago so how can they come at me now? Not only that, but I wasn't arrested, the police were not notified, and I never signed any papers that I admitted to stealing or attempted to steal any merchandise. How do I go about this? Should I pay the restitution fee? Thanks for your replies.