The Umansky Law Firm

Imagine looking for items at a store while you are with your kids. You are busy shopping for your favorite item, watching three of your children, talking on the cell phone and looking for school supplies as well. While talking on your cell phone with your mother, you pick up an item and place it in your shopping cart and do not give a second thought to it. You continue shopping and go to pay for the items in your cart. You pay the cashier and proceed to go through the check out line to your car.

Immediately you are surrounded by security officers who confront you, and take you back to their loss prevention office. They accuse you of theft, call you horrible names and do not let you move from their custody for over an hour until the police arrive. You adamantly deny having taken anything and that if there was an unpaid for item you were unaware of it and the clerk did not mention anything. After making you wait over an hour in an isolated room that is in the back part of the store you become anxious and afraid so you tell them you did it accidentally so you can get out of their office. The loss prevention officer who is not a police officer tells you that the police will be on their way to arrest you unless you admit to stealing the items. Scared of the arrest, you tell them what they want you to say. The cops arrive and question the loss prevention officer and they never bother to ask you what happened. At this point they arrest you or issue you a notice to appear in court. Either way you have just entered the criminal justice system.

Now you are facing a crime that has implications for your integrity, your career and your life. If this ever happens it can be a horrible experience especially based on an honest mistake or a forgetful or a distracted moment. The judge can impose penalties such as a driver license suspension, court fines, probation, theft courses and in some cases jail time. Many stores such as Kohl's, Winn Dixie, Target, Office Max, Dilliard's, Bebe, The Gap, Publix, Macy's, Wal-Mart, Sak's, Disney World, Universal Studios, J.C. Penny's, Albertson's, Sears, Belz outlet, Millennium Mall, and Florida Mall hire aggressive loss prevention officers who are not going to listen to your side of the story and are protected by a Florida law from being sued in many circumstances.

Fortunately, if this is your first offense you may be eligible for a first offender program such as pretrial diversion or intervention that can result in your charges being dropped by the state of Florida. If you get in and complete the conditions, your charges may get dropped and then you can hire an attorney to expunge your records.

The attorneys and lawyers at the Umansky Law Firm are experienced with these types of theft and shoplifting cases and will work hard to protect your rights and seek the best resolution for your case. If you desire, our attorneys and lawyers will go to a jury trial and explain to the jury that you did not willfully steal any items but rather made a mistake or were distracted if those are indeed the circumstances.

If you are arrested in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Brevard or Volusia county or in communities such as Orlando, Windermere, Winter Park, Longwood, Kissimmee, Clermont, Altamonte Springs, Avalon Park, Stoneybrook, or any other Central Florida community, call us at 407-228-3838 today. The consultation is free and we will try hard to help you in a bad situation. Call or email us today!