Wife accused of theft

[Retailqueen]

Hi,

My wife worked in a retail store and was accused of steal $100 from her register 2 weeks before.

The loss prevention manager pulled her into the office and interagated her for 3 hours trying to make her confess.

Being she didn't steal anything and there has been thousands missing over the past month, so much so that they have even been looking under counters and lifting up registers looking for it. (it's someone the the cash office stealing most people are thinking).
Anyways..after the 3 hours of trying to make her confess and telling her she would not goto jail and could even shop in the store after all this, They called the local police and he showed up and told her "If you don't sign that paper saying you stole the money I'm taking you jail and you can sit there all weekend and they can sort it out on monday and then they will send you to prison for a year".

Is this something a police officer can say to someone?

We are getting a lawyer to sue the store for trying to pinthis on her.
and possablly suing the loss prevention for him allowing the officer to say what he did being it goes against Walmarts own policy that states

"An associate cannot be forced, nor is he/she required to sign or fill out the "statement of addmision to theft" form. The associate may be asked to do so ,and if they volutarily agree, it must be done in the presence of two witneesses."

I would say that 3 hours of being yelled at and verbaly abused and then to have a cop say he was sending her to prison for a year.the store already told her they were only making her pay them $10 a month for a year.

Yes she did sign it..we have a 8 month old baby we have to worry about, and i'm sure that all that was on her mind while the officer was talking a year prison.

your thoughts please.

[BrickCop]

The store policy violation is just that, it is not a violation of the law on their part. Having said that it clearly undermines their credibility if they fail to follow their own policy.

I do not understand why a police officer would make such a statement, perhaps he has worked with the LP at that store on past dishonest employees/shoplifters. He may have been taking their word at face value that she is guilty. In my state a store manager/loss prevention's observations alone are enough to establish probable cause.

I was in LP years ago and were required by management to get every DE/shoplifter to sign a waiver of liability form before they were released- we caught hell from the suits if we did not. Too bad they weren't worth the paper they were written on.

It also is possible that your wife is in fact guilty of stealing the money and does not want to admit it to you for whatever reason. I'm not stating this as fact but it's been known to happen.

[Bodie]

She could have left "interview" at anytime and probably should have once loss prevention manager "accused" her of stealing. If he had proof he would have simply went and had her fired or filed charges.
He was doing his job in that store wanted a confession so they could terminate her and she would have no recourse.

Get the lawyer but it will cost you a ton up front so best she just quit and go get another job

[jakflak]

If she's innocent, she shouldn't have said she did it. If she didn't want to be questioned for 3 hours, she should have left.

[Centurion44]

Is this something a police officer can say to someone?

I thought you said it was the loss prevention manager. Which was it, LPM or a LEO? Two different things.

Yes she did sign it.

your thoughts please.

In all fairness, Queen, I was an LPO for about 2 or 3 years before I got into law enforcement. And although I can't speak for the store in question, if it were the store I worked at, the LPM wouldn't even talk to you until they had something solid. I've also seen spouses bend the truth just as you described above to make them look less guilty.

I've arrested cop's wives, fireman's wives, and a CO's husband. Trust me when I say the story's almost always the same.

In my old store, if we just "suspected" the associate of lifting from the drawer, we (the line officer) would confront them at the end of shift, ask for the store's money back and they just tell them not to come back.

The only time the LPM would take the case and "interrogate" them was when we had a solid, prosecutable, case.

I'm not trying to pass judgement, Queen. But I am asking you to try and look at this as objectively as possible. Is your wife the type of person would sign a cofession if they were innocent, no matter what the circumstance?

Tell your wife you love her, and you'll support her no matter what, but you need to know the truth before you waste any more time on a trial/lawyer's fee's etc.

If, despite all this, you feel your wife is innocent, you have nothing to worry about. If they end up charging her criminally and then can't prove anything in court have a right to file a civil suit.

But, bottom line, this is 2005. This isn't the Spanish Inquisition. She didn't have to sign a confession if she didn't commit the crime.

[Retailqueen]

It was the head of loss prevention who did the 3 hours of demanding her to sign the paper. He did give her a 4 min. break to get some air, claiming "I doon't think you will run".

She was not given a choice to leave. she was told she had to "Stay in thier office untill the police arrived" (That was at the end of the 3 hours) and before the cop showed up they had already told her they were not going to charge her with anything and that she could shop in thier store anytime.

I can't speak for others.. but most women who are yelled at and intimidated by three men standing over them for 3 hours and are then told by a cop that they are going to prison for a year would be scared.

This is something Walmart does on a regular basis. I have seen them cuss, yell and scream at a 7 year old who stole a 25cent pack of gum.

I have worked closely with our Store LP in the past and know that if someone is caught stealing customer/worker they are talked to and let go within at the most 15 mins.(unless they are not talking or fighting).
And once they are done they tell them they are banned for life from any Walmart in the usa.

But why is it that my wife is tortured/held against her will and given threats of prison?...Yet the manager pats her on the shoulder when she leaves telling her there is no problem with her shopping in the store.

[jakflak]

But why is it that my wife is tortured/held against her will and given threats of prison?...

So now she was tortured and threatened with prison? I thought she was "interrogated" and threatened with jail?

[Retailqueen]

So now she was tortured and threatened with prison? I thought she was "interrogated" and threatened with jail?

If you are able to read, Then read the first post as i said she was told

"If you don't sign that paper saying you stole the money I'm taking you jail and you can sit there all weekend and they can sort it out on monday and then they will send you to prison for a year".

I feel that if a woman is being stood over by 3 men as she is sitting in a chair all of them going at her at the same time demanding her to confess to something she did something she did not do, I think any woman would think that was torture.

I think if any of you have wifes and this happend to them you would be just as mad as i am.

I am very close to my wife we have been together for over 11 years and are best friends as well.
I also work at the same store that this happend and so does her mother.

We are never apart and i would have seen if we had $100 exrta dollors kicking around and we had just gotten paid 2 days before this and paid all of our bills and had $500 of mad money to buy whatever we needed extra.

I know my wife better than anyone i have ever known and i know her morals and her religious beliefs would never allow her to do something like this.

When talking to people at work about this they feel like i do.
Out of the 300 or so people who work at this store the 2 people who stop the most scams and theft are me and my wife.
She was working at the service desk and stopped at least 30 people a day trying to return items they got from in the store and took right upto the service desk trying to get money for it.

And like i said in my last post. I have work closely with past LP's and have even gotten in trouble for not being in my area while helping track shoplifters.

We both have recived 40+ pins we have gotten in the four years we have been there from LP that they hand to people who stopped theft.

[BrickCop]

Out of the 300 or so people who work at this store the 2 people who stop the most scams and theft are me and my wife.
She was working at the service desk and stopped at least 30 people a day trying to return items they got from in the store and took right upto the service desk trying to get money for it.

And like i said in my last post. I have work closely with past LP's and have even gotten in trouble for not being in my area while helping track shoplifters.

We both have recived 40+ pins we have gotten in the four years we have been there from LP that they hand to people who stopped theft.

All of this makes it that much more puzzling on why LP would single out your wife with a false accusation. With all due respect your questions have been asked and answered. Do you want us to say that Wa Mart will settle this matter in court with a million dollar settlement?

I'm curious, what do you think should happen now?

[Retailqueen]

I care nothing about money at all. I just want them to know what they do to people is wrong.
This is by no meens the first time that Loss prevention has done this to workers and lots have sued and won against Walmart.

I am a the type of person who hates when people get away with stuff like this.
Walmart loss prevention is very well known to be brutal when they are handling people who they think stole something.

Case in point the recent killing of a suspected shoplifter in texas.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3301862

[gotthblues]

we went to walmart at least 4 times a shift for shoplifters, they were never mean to people, they got smart with butt heads and made fun of them, but only to those who "asked for it", they were actually very professional.

[gotthblues]

does your wife believe everything she is told????? if an officer said she would go to jail,,well think about it,,if every time an officer interviewed someone and that person said "i didnt do it" do you think the officer says "well crap, they said they didnt do it, so thats about all we can do" i was not there so we are only getting one side of the story,as always, but come on,,,, if the above was how it was done then everyone would run wild and no one would ever be charged..

[Retailqueen]

No she does not belive everything she is told.
but people are raised to trust police officers and that are the "good guys".

and when you have never uttered a word or had a cop even talk to you in your life and then to have one standing over you telling you you are going to jail and then prison you tend to be rather scared i'm sure.

I know if i were my wife and this was happening to me all i could think about is my 8 month old baby and not seeing her for a year.

maybebeing your a cop and are alot tougher than most you can't think of what it would be like to go through something like this.

I still don't think it's right for a cop to come in and without even knowing what the hek is going on other than this person sitting in the chair is accused of theft to say things like he did and make her sign the paper saying she stole it.

She asked 5 or so times during the 3 hours if she could leave and they told her "No not untill you sign the form" and so after the 3 hours of them not getting her to sign it, That's when they called the police.

They told her that walmart was not going to do anything to her and she could shop there. but then when it time for the form to be signed is when it all changed.

The only reson the police was called was to scare her into signing the form.

She could hear the Loss prevention manager in the doorway talking to hiim as he walked in about a baby and such.

So i figure the cop knew he could scare her into signing by playing on her emotions of having a new baby (that we tried to concive for 11 years) that she loves more than anything in the world.

[BrickCop]

Ok so file suit against Wal Mart if you wish to send a message. The cop sounds like he was operating on the word of LP. You've come to the wrong place if you're seeking to take out a pound of cop flesh on this forum.

[gotthblues]

well, let me apologize for what i am about to say,,,okay now,,,anyone and everyone knows that an officer can not force you to sign anything that says you are guilty, not even a ticket that is just a promise to appear before a judge. and i have never seen walmart not ban someone from their property for theft or embezzlement, sorry they just dont do that,,if i read it right, walmart's policy was they could not force someone to sign a form or force an interview, right, thats her fault for staying and signing, any officer with half a butt for a brain knows that he can not get involved in a civil matter and force someone to do something, without signed judges orders,
i sorry, but from what i ve read so far, something doesnt sound right here,,as far as the officer saying that she could go to jail or priison,,well refer to my previous post, sometimes you try a nice fuzzy approach, sometimes you act like a pecker head, when to act like what is up to the officer, you may not agree with that, but sorry. and there is no need to call the police if they are not going to press criminal charges,,so again im sorry, but something is not right about your post.