As the summer is quickly approaching the thought of wearing last years
clothes sends many of us to the local mall. Have you ever been waiting
in the check out line arms full of new finds and suddenly your two year
old darts away from you heading straight for the exit? As you make a mad
dash to grab his arm the store alarms sound and you remember the things
you are still holding, forgotten in your moment of panic to save your
child from certain death. You turn, child in hand, to walk back inside
and out of no where a rather large bald man holding a walkie talkie from
the 80's is in your face telling you to follow him, that he has some
questions for you. Unsure of what is going on, you follow him to his office
in the women's clothing section. The room is small, no windows, a
table that seats three on each side. Your son begins to whimper, scared
of this stranger. As he locks the door behind you he tells you that you
have been caught stealing from his store and the Store intends to prosecute you.
After you get over the shock of this outrageous accusation and try to
console your son who is in a full out tantrum you try to explain yourself
to this man who is looking at you as though you were the lowest of the
low. The more that you explain the more he laughs and tells you to admit
that you stole the items and intended to run with them but were caught instead.
In Florida a merchant who has probable cause to believe a person has committed
retail theft and that the property can be recovered, has the right to
take that person into custody and detain the offender in a reasonable
manner for a reasonable manner for reasonable length of time.
What that means is that the merchant can keep you from leaving the store
if he or she believes they can get back the things that were stolen. What
they can't do is hold you beyond a reasonable time. What is reasonable?
The time necessary to get your information and call police to the store.
They can't hold you in a tiny room for hours without calling police
or releasing you. What you need to always remember is that the person
holding you there isn't your friend, they may be overly friendly or
even tell you that they just want to know what happened and then you can
go. DO NOT BELIEVE THEM! They have a job to do and that is to prove you
were stealing from their store. Always ask for an attorney, everything
you say is going to be used to convict you of theft.
Jody L. Fisher is a central Florida criminal defense attorney. Contact Attorney Fisher if you have questions about your legal rights.