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Posts Tagged ‘Doing The Right Thing’

HELP! Caught shoplifting in California?

November 16th, 2011 3 comments

Before I write, I know I am going to be faced with a lot of prejudice and anger. First and foremost, know that I deeply regret this stupid decision, and it was my first time (I was careless because I knew it was wrong and still did it, but at the same time I just was so fed up for living in near poverty for so long).

I stole $80 of merchandise at JC Penney. They were on sale, so when I was caught, they marked it as the actual retail price which was $165. I slid the items into my purse and thought I was home free despite I was terrified. My boyfriend was with me and thought that I would make it out okay. We were caught by the door by the LP Agent who said, "You must come with me" and dragged us quite painfully to the detainment room.

There they questioned us if we did it, took our things, our identification, phone numbers, everything except our social security. Eventually we admitted our wrongs and returned everything, but because of our ages (24 and 23) they decided to prosecute under California Penal Code 490. We were not read our Miranda Rights. We signed some papers. One of them was the list of items that were stolen and we were going to pay for them, second was the ban of the premises for 6 months, and we are uncertain what the third paper was (if we did, we cannot remember as we were frozen in fear). We were arrested on the spot and taken to the police station despite we were cooperative and agreed to to the ban, apologized, returned the items in tact and unharmed, and agreed to their civil demand. The Police also did not read us our Miranda rights, and we were not interviewed. We had our photos and fingerprints taken and once we were cited, we were released. We were given a court date. We are unable to sleep and are frightened to death. We have never done anything like this before, and while many people said that admitting to the wrong doing was bad, we thought we were doing the right thing by admitting the guilt. We are literally riddled with grief with the fact this will damage our future careers because of a small, but frustrated, mistake.

Anymore facts include: The theft was in California, we were not interviewed or recorded by the Police, we were not kept in jail for more than an hour for them to book us, and insofar we’ve cooperated and showed great remorse for our actions. But we don’t know what to do now. We are told to consult a lawyer, but we have hardly any money to afford one (in fact, the theft was on the basis we hardly have money). We are going to seek a Public Defender, but we are unsure of how this will all cost.

If no priors, probably no jail time, a fine, and a short stint with probation (possibly informal).

As for your rights not being read: If you research miranda questions, either here or somewhere else, you’ll find that your rights only need to be read to you if you are in custody AND the police wish to interview you. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Everything else is television B.S.

As for all the paperwork at the store: That’s fairly common. They can pursue you civilly as well as prosecute you criminally. You can be charged with trespassing if you return to the store (and usually any other J.C Penny).

How can I be named executor of my fathers’ estate if we don’t know what his assets are?

May 2nd, 2011 2 comments

My father died 2 weeks ago in the State of Michigan. We have been estranged for 20 years and know nothing about his life in recent years. (I live 500 miles away from where he did) We have found out that he has an IRA and a savings account with Chase Bank. However; the state will not give me control of his estate unless I can be specific about his financial situation. i.e dollar amounts in the accounts and most importantly account numbers. Now here’s the source of my problem: He had an on again-off again girlfriend who has been living with him in recent months prior to his death. She conveniently cannot locate any of his mail, bank statements, IRA statements, tax records or anything that would help me determine the actual assets of his estate. We believe in total his estates worth to be less than $15,000 dollars. I’ve been told about a Letter of Authority which will cost me $150.00 do get. This supposedly will give me access to this information directly from the financial institution. Supposedly. And then I can proceed with declaring his assets for probate. Can any one advise me in this area? What should I do? Am I doing the right thing? Oh, and one more thing to note: the ‘girlfriend’ is not a legal tenant in my fathers’ apartment and is not on the lease. Can I assume that everything in his apartment is his and do I have the legal right to search it to get the information that I need? Thank you for any help you can give me.
Also, there was no will.

You would hire someone to do an accounting of the assets. There are people who you can hire to do that if the estate is large.