Concealment, price tag changing, larceny, store theft, intent requirement, aiding and abetting, petty larceny, stolen goods, moral turpitude, loss prevention, legal consequences, attorney fees, surveillance cameras, shoplifting, legal advice
What To Do When… Concealment. You’ve Concealed.
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The objective of the What To Do When… podcast is to discuss common legal scenarios faced by everyday citizens in Virginia. Critzer and Cardani practice law throughout Virginia and focus their practice around the state’s capital of Richmond, in the Piedmont region. Tune in and subscribe to learn about legal topics such as reckless driving by speeding, bad lawyers, Will Knows Weed, juvenile defense, juvenile sex crimes, reckless driving, the legalization of marijuana in Virginia, divorce 101, Child Support, There is Still Hope, and others.
What To Do When… Concealment. You’ve Concealed.
On this legal video podcast chat in Critzer Cardani’s What To Do When… podcast series, join our hosts Jackie Critzer and Scott Cardani as they chat about some Criminal Law topics on What To Do When… Concealment. You’ve Concealed. This video and audio podcast episode focuses on Stealing, Shoplifting, Concealment, Larceny, and Petit Larceny both on the adult and juvenile side of the law here in Virginia.
Tune in today for not only our top take-aways, but also some chat about the following subject matters and other helpful action items from a ‘legal chat slant’ from Critzer Cardani’s legal partners.
* Scott Cardani explains that concealment is a subsection of larceny, emphasizing that it involves stealing property.
* Jackie Critzer asks about the difference between concealment and larceny, with Scott clarifying that concealment occurs before leaving the store, while larceny occurs after.
* Scott provides an example of price tag changing, where customers switch tags from cheaper items to more expensive ones.
* Jackie and Scott discuss how concealment can occur in various ways, such as moving items from one container to another or hiding items under clothing.
* Jackie and Scott discuss the importance of intent in concealment charges, highlighting that one must knowingly commit the act.
* Scott explains that concealment charges can vary based on the value of the stolen goods, with petty larceny being under $1,000.
* Jackie and Scott discuss the potential consequences of being caught, including immediate stoppage by store staff or police.
* Scott advises against trying to explain the situation to store staff, as it can complicate matters.
* Scott emphasizes that concealment charges are considered crimes of moral turpitude, which can have long-lasting effects on one’s career and personal life.
* Jackie and Scott discuss how these charges can affect employment opportunities, especially in positions involving money or responsibility.
* Scott shares examples of how concealment charges can impact trust and credibility in various professional settings.
* Jackie highlights the financial burden of hiring a defense attorney, which can be significant.
* Scott notes that stores like Target, Walmart, and Wawa have stepped up their loss prevention measures.
* Jackie and Scott discuss the prevalence of surveillance cameras in stores, making it easier to catch concealment.
* Jackie and Scott reiterate the importance of not trying to explain the situation to store staff or police.
* Scott advises listeners to seek legal counsel if they find themselves in a situation involving concealment charges.
The objective of the What To Do When… podcast is to discuss common legal scenarios faced by everyday citizens in Virginia. Critzer and Cardani practice law throughout Virginia and focus their practice around the state’s capital of Richmond, in the Piedmont region. Tune in and subscribe to learn about legal topics such as reckless driving by speeding, bad lawyers, Will Knows Weed, juvenile defense, juvenile sex crimes, reckless driving, the legalization of marijuana in Virginia, divorce 101, Child Support, There is Still Hope and others.
Thank you for sending us your feedback, questions, or topic suggestions for future #WTDW | What To Do When… episodes by emailing [email protected].
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Transcript:
What To Do When… Intro 00:01
Welcome to What To Do When… A podcast from real lawyers with real perspective, where we explore a variety of legal issues and scenarios. Each week we focus on a new topic and discuss what to do when and if any of these legal scenarios ever happened to you or a loved one. With over 40 years of combined legal experience, our hosts offer their unique perspectives and insights on a range of real life legal situations.
Jackie Critzer 0:28
Hi. Welcome back to another episode of What To Do When… here at Critzer Cardani in Richmond, Virginia. I’m Jackie.
Scott Cardani 0:34
I’m Scott Cardani. Jackie, what’s on the docket for today?
Jackie Critzer 0:37
What To Do When… Concealment. You’ve Concealed.
Scott Cardani 0:37
Ooh, what’s concealed, concealment?
Jackie Critzer 0:43
Like dark spot, yeah, little makeup, yeah. So concealment is when you have changed a price tag in a store, you’ve secreted an item up under your shirt.
Scott Cardani 0:55
What does secreted mean? I love that word, but most people don’t know what that means.
Jackie Critzer 0:58
You hid it… You’ve just hid it on purpose… then, or if you’ve changed a product from one container to another. But, of course, it’s, it’s like stealing… but it’s, it’s a subsection of that really.
Scott Cardani 1:14
It’s a subsection of larceny. But you know, it’s the same thing. It’s stealing property, property. So, for instance, you walk into Target.
Jackie Critzer 1:21
Okay? And they like prosecute, by the way.
Scott Cardani 1:23
Yeah, if you do, that’s really badly. We got a lot of calls from Target. But anyways, people are doing this price tag changing thing. It’s become a very common thing. So they go over to the teddy bear that’s $3 and take the sticker off the $3 teddy bear, and then they go put it on the $200 or $20 diapers or whatever they may be.
Jackie Critzer 1:44
Yeah, sure.
Scott Cardani 1:44
So that’s that price changing thing. Or, like in some stores, some smaller stores, where they actually cross out and say it’s on sale or something, they may do something like that, cross out the price and say the new price is 30 bucks, something like that. So, you know, before we got on, Jackie was talking about how, in the old days, our parents maybe go to the hardware store and put some, you know, they’re getting some bolts and nuts and stuff. They put them in their pocket to carry them up front, and then we got front of the cash register. They pull them out. Well, that doesn’t fly like it used to, because…
Jackie Critzer 2:16
Right.
Scott Cardani 2:16
Sometimes they try to get you for concealment before you even get to the cash register.
Jackie Critzer 2:19
Sure.
Scott Cardani 2:20
You don’t have a chance to prove that. Number two, so many people forget they just put something in their pocket. I don’t know how you do that, but…
Jackie Critzer 2:29
Well, and it’s not just if you are the one who changed the price sticker, or you are committing this concealment. It’s if you help someone, or talk to someone, or try to distract the store clerk white while somebody else is doing, like, if you’re involved or aiding and abetting in any way, you can be charged with the same thing.
Scott Cardani 2:47
Yeah – and again, it’s kind of like larceny. It’s petty larceny, which is, or the smaller misdemeanor we call it, would be under $1,000. If you’re over $1,000 you know, like people going in and say, you have this TV that you want from Walmart happens all the time, and it’s $3,000 but there’s another TV down there that’s $899 and you switch price tags, and I realized you’re all looking at me going, like, what am I scans everything. Now it’s not true. You know, I probably had five or 10 price tag changes from target in the last couple months.,
Jackie Critzer 3:26
Well, you know, they take the the sales sticker. It’s yellow, and I know that, because I like to shop a target, don’t tell my husband. It’s a secret. But they have these little yellow sales stickers. So they do put stickers on the tags. I mean, the original tag is a scan, yes, but they do take those yellow sales stickers and that they’re not the only ones that do it and moving that to a different product. Now, what happens, Scott, if you had nothing to do with the sticker swap, you didn’t know it occurred. You walked up to this item on the shelf and you saw it there, and it had this surprisingly low price, but not, not so shocking that, you know, you thought something was a miss. And you pick it up and you try to take it up front, they’re like, Hey, this isn’t the right sticker?
Scott Cardani 4:10
Yeah. I mean, it doesn’t matter if you’re in Chesterfield or Henrico or wherever they’re having deals all the time, like when I just went and bought a couple casual shirts my wife and I were out in Goochland, and, you know, you put on this, you know, I got a shirt for 10 bucks. It’s a $40 shirt, you know, I’m like that. Could you can did somebody switch the price? Sure, you know, so, yeah, that you have to be careful that, but you have to have the intent to do it. They’d have to prove that you knew, knowingly did it. You know, there’s this knowingly element to it that, you know, always in criminal law, you have to, usually, there has to be an intent to it.
Jackie Critzer 4:45
Is it known, or should have known, or like, knew that somebody had done that.
Scott Cardani 4:50
I – You have to have known. You have, you have to have the intent in this case. So, you know, it’s stolen goods and all these things, you know, if you don’t know they’re stolen, then you know it’s not your fault. And you know, we live in a society, when you think about it, I mean, you could literally go to the target in Henrico and go to the target in Chesterfield or in Williamsburg or somewhere else, and the prices could be completely different.
Jackie Critzer 5:17
True, yeah, that’s true. Yeah.
Scott Cardani 5:18
So for instance, I’m trying to think maybe there’s some shampoo, some new fangled shampoo, out. And in Chester, it’s selling for $75. You know, and everybody loves it. In Chesterfield, they’re buying it like nothing. And then in Hanover, nobody wants it.
Jackie Critzer 5:39
Nobody wants it.
Scott Cardani 5:39
They think it’s garbage. And so it sat on the shelf for a year, and now they’re just discounting it in Hanover, and it’s 30 cents or 45 cents. That stuff happens all the time. So you know, there you again. You have to know what’s going on. But what we’re talking about is when you do it, and you know, again, you’re gonna get immediately stopped, probably by somebody in the store. Usually the police aren’t there till after you’re stopped.
Jackie Critzer 6:04
Right.
Scott Cardani 6:05
And so, you know, they that’s a whole nother game. And we always say this, do not talk. Do not try to get yourself out of it. Do not start trying to do anything.
Jackie Critzer 6:17
Well, let me ask you this. What happens? When does it become a different charge than somebody? I never want to say that we’ve done the crime, so I hate using us as the examples. But let’s say you’ve put it, this thing in your pocket, and you did forget that it was there, but you did intentionally put it in your pocket. That’s technically concealment, and then you didn’t check the other pocket, you left it in there, and you walked like when does it become something more than concealment?
Scott Cardani 6:44
Well, it’s, that’s just what it is. I don’t know. I maybe I misunderstand the question. But you know, it’s concealment. When you that’s the whole charge. It’s stealing. When you walk out of the store, as soon as you walk out of the store, it’s, it’s concealment. So when you’re still on the premises, though. You’re okay, technically,
Jackie Critzer 7:02
Well, you’re still on the premises. That’s the concealment, right when you leave that it’s the petty larceny.
Yeah – you’re right, yeah, okay, sorry, I didn’t know what you saying. Yeah, sorry. Okay, so, yeah, you’re still on the premises, but usually you’re pass the point of sale.
That’s the trigger for the next charge.
Scott Cardani 7:17
But like you said, these are usually the charges that happen inside the store, behind in, you know, on the other side of the on the sale side of the register, so to speak. Usually, like you said, when you’re walking out, it changes that.
Jackie Critzer 7:30
Gosh, you know, and I think that we have a, I mean, I remember representing some young people the Walmart. Walmart is big on their loss prevention, and so is Target. But actually Wawa is too You better not take some food out of there without paying for it. They will. They’ve got cameras everywhere, and now we’ve seen that as well. But how many, how many clients have you had where it was a girl, young girl, who took the makeup and just stuck it in her pocketbook?
Scott Cardani 7:54
Oh, yeah, all the time. Or they go into the changing room and they leave one of the shirts underneath their blouse and all those kind of things. So, yeah. I mean, it happens all the time.
Jackie Critzer 8:02
And it’s still a crime of dishonesty.
Scott Cardani 8:04
Yeah. And what you gotta understand that’s what I was gonna bring up next, these things are crimes of moral turpitude that they hurt you forever. You know that’s when you’re trying to do something later in life, you have this petty larceny or concealment on your record. Nobody likes to hear that. That means you’re a stealer. And people don’t tend to like stealers, especially people who are hiring people because say, I’m hiring you to run my office, and my office gets paid money every once in my own cash. Am I going to put somebody with petty larceny out front who’s handling money? Probably not.
Jackie Critzer 8:34
And the register in any way handling finances.
Scott Cardani 8:37
Or even, or you’re even in the back, the guy getting deliveries off the truck.
Jackie Critzer 8:40
Oh, sure.
Scott Cardani 8:41
Well, we only got 14 today, right? We’re supposed to get 15, but we only got 14. I mean, and then you start going away, man, he had a petty larceny. I don’t really trust that guy. It’s a horrible thing, you know? I mean, I don’t let me say this. I’m sure most people made mistakes in their lives, and they learned from and they changed and they never did itagain. But these are the kind of things on records that hang around, and even though you may never done anything for years and years and years and had lived a perfect life. Those things tend to hang and it’s not a good thing to do, and it’s something that people do a lot of. And as Jackie said, it used to be, and you see it on news all the time, like in California, they let people seem like steal whatever. I mean, I’m amazed by that. But for whatever reason, here in Virginia, they’ve really cracked down on it, and I’ve seen a tremendous track crackdown on target, Wawa, Walmart, the bigger stores where it never used to be, the smaller stores are doing it too, though, that, you know, the little mom and pop shops have cameras everywhere now. They’re, you know, cameras are so cheap now, so it’s much easier to catch you on a camera. They see you doing it, you know? And little kid who goes in a store and goes, Oh, yeah, I need, you know, I want that piece of bubble gum.
Jackie Critzer 9:50
A little food for thought. Well, sure, there’s children who get little sticky fingers, and that’s a whole different process. But when you’ve got these a teenager or young person, and it’s not just young people who conceal. There are plenty of grown people who do it as well, but this $50 item, $2 item, $250 item is now going to cost you how much in a defense attorney?
Scott Cardani 10:13
Yeah, absolutely.
Jackie Critzer 10:14
1000s. It’s 1000s. Misdemeanors are now over, well over $1,000 sometimes multiple and felonies. Felony charge is going to land you square in several $1,000 of dollars. So keep in mind that the trouble you’re finding yourself in is only going to be a multiplier of the attorney’s fees you’re going to have to pay.
Scott Cardani 10:32
Absolutely, you know, you saved five bucks, so to speak, but you’re going to spend, you know, $2,500.00 probably – so… well. Thank you for joining us today. Like and Subscribe. We appreciate you being here. Have a good day.
What To Do When… Outro 10:47
We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of What To Do When… For more episodes, be sure to subscribe to our podcast and we encourage you to check archives to listen to previous topics. Tune in next week for a new episode and some fresh perspective from Critzer Cardani.
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