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Will the University find out that I was arrested for shoplifting and if so what can happen?

04/02/2009 - Criminal - State: NY #15851

Full Question:

I was charged petty larceny yesterday. I was arrested because I want to steal two sunglasses in macy's and the total value was $125. I removed the security tag of the two glasses in the fitting room and just held them in my left hand. Is there any possibility to say that I did not mean to do this and I totally forgot it? Can I then motion to dismiss? I am a Chinese student in Ph.d. program here and my record is very clean. I want to know what might be the most likely outcome of my case. Will my case be known by my university and affect my graduation and degree?

Answer:

Removing a security tag is generally an intentional act and it is likely that the court won't believe that it was accidental. Courts tend to be harsher in sentencing someone that they believe is not truthful and lacks remorse. For first offense New York shoplifting charges, some county courts have special education programs for shoplifters. You may be able to participate in a program and get your charges reduced or dismissed. Outcomes vary by the facts and circumstances in each case, as well as the sentencing court.

Whether a conviction may be used to prevent a graduate degree will depend on the policies of the school. Generally, criminal charges are not automatically reported to a person's school. Codes of conduct vary by school. Typically, a misdemeanor conviction isn't grounds for expulsion. In some cases, a person must pass a fitness of character background check to be licensed in a certain profession. I suggest contacting a local attorney who is familiar with the court practices in your area and can review all the circumstances to determine if a possible defense is available.

The following are NY statutes:

§ 155.05 Penal. Larceny; defined.

1. A person steals property and commits larceny when, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or to a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner thereof.

2. Larceny includes a wrongful taking, obtaining or withholding of another's property, with the intent prescribed in subdivision one of this section, committed in any of the following ways:

(a) By conduct heretofore defined or known as common law larceny by trespassory taking, common law larceny by trick, embezzlement, or obtaining property by false pretenses;

(b) By acquiring lost property. A person acquires lost property when he exercises control over property of another which he knows to have been lost or mislaid, or to have been delivered under a mistake as to the identity of the recipient or the nature or amount of the property, without taking reasonable measures to return such property to the owner;

(c) By committing the crime of issuing a bad check, as defined in section 190.05;

(d) By false promise. A person obtains property by false promise when, pursuant to a scheme to defraud, he obtains property of another by means of a representation, express or implied, that he or a third person will in the future engage in particular conduct, and when he does not intend to engage in such conduct or, as the case may be, does not believe that the third person intends to engage in such conduct.

In any prosecution for larceny based upon a false promise, the defendant's intention or belief that the promise would not be performed may not be established by or inferred from the fact alone that such promise was not performed. Such a finding may be based only upon evidence establishing that the facts and circumstances of the case are wholly consistent with guilty intent or belief and wholly inconsistent with innocent intent or belief, and excluding to a moral certainty every hypothesis except that of the defendant's intention or belief that the promise would not be performed;

(e) By extortion. A person obtains property by extortion when he compels or induces another person to deliver such property to himself or to a third person by means of instilling in him a fear that, if the property is not so delivered, the actor or another will:

(i) Cause physical injury to some person in the future; or

(ii) Cause damage to property; or

(iii) Engage in other conduct constituting a crime; or

(iv) Accuse some person of a crime or cause criminal charges to be instituted against him; or

(v) Expose a secret or publicize an asserted fact, whether true or false, tending to subject some person to hatred, contempt or ridicule; or

(vi) Cause a strike, boycott or other collective labor group action injurious to some person's business; except that such a threat shall not be deemed extortion when the property is demanded or received for the benefit of the group in whose interest the actor purports to act; or

(vii) Testify or provide information or withhold testimony or information with respect to another's legal claim or defense; or

(viii) Use or abuse his position as a public servant by performing some act within or related to his official duties, or by failing or refusing to perform an official duty, in such manner as to affect some person adversely; or

(ix) Perform any other act which would not in itself materially benefit the actor but which is calculated to harm another person materially with respect to his health, safety, business, calling, career, financial condition, reputation or personal relationships.