Tweet
Hello ,
I am in USA(bay area,CA) on H1B visa, staying with my family of wife who is also on H1B and 1 kid who is 5 year old.
I had gone to a big retail store in Bay area, Ca for shopping with my wife and kid . I selected 5-6 items for myself in gents section and my wife selected 5-6 clothes for kid in the kids section which is on the 2nd floor or the store .After i finished with my thing I went on the second floor to join my wife and kid .My wife asked an employee if they had any bags/cart to keep the stuff to which she politely replied "No" . My 5 yr old had a fall couple of days back and broke her leg so she is on Cast and also was not keeping well as he has an upset stomach .As it was difficult for my wife and me to hold the clothes and manage the kid we put the clothes in a plastic bag that we had with us as we wanted to go for grocery shopping after this . We put the stuff in the plastic bag in front of one of the store's employee who was getting down the escalator with us .
After getting back to the first floor , my wife also wanted to check something for her and she finalized a jacket which had no price on it so i took to the jacket to scanner for price checking . Once done , we started walking towards to the cash counter which is right next to the enter/exist .As we were walking ,I was far ahead of my wife and kid and wanted to call someone and I got busy trying to reach out the person whom I was trying to call .However, as I was not getting connected I stepped out wondering if i was not getting proper signal/reception . I re entered the store and I was at the door and I saw my wife rushing towards the door with my kid mentioning the kid feels like throwing up and as I was on phone I could not understand much . As soon as my wife stepped with the bags and the jacket which was in her hand out with my kid, 3-4 people surrounded her and without asking or telling anything took the bags from her hand and asked my wife to get in .Once I realized that my wife had gone out with the bags in her hand i started walking towards the door to to check on my kid but before I could do that my wife was brought in and also I was asked to join them . I was asked to keep quiet and keep walking and then they took us to a room and made us sit .
After asking what was this regarding they told us that we were brought here as we have done a crime of "shoplifting" and we were totally surprised with what we just heard . They would not listen to us and took all our belongings and started with their paperwork etc etc .
Bottom line : We are now accused of shoplifting worth $900-$920 and the reason they give is we have put the clothes in bags and that none of the clothes had tags . I told them i removed 2 tags myself in shirts as I was unable to unbutton the shirt . Now with all the clothes secured electronically why would anyone remove the tags , I don't even know if the clothes had tags or were secured electronically .
They wanted us to sign on papers which pretty much says we did the theft , We did not sign the papers as we had no such intentions at all and now we are asked to pay penalty of 450$ each as civil demand notice within 5 days and that we would not enter the store for next 3 years .
A cop was called who after couple of conversations literally told us that we were lying and gave us both a ticket/yellow slip for shoplifting Misdemeanor "459.5 PC" and has asked to appear before the court in next 25 days . Wondering If we could extend the court date ?? Go to our home country and come back ?? Would we be charged guilty or not ?? Would we be sent to Jail if found guilty ?? If so , what happens to the kid ?? If found guilty , would it show in our records ?? DO i have to hire an attorney and what kind ?? Would we be deported and out of status in worst case scenario ??
We as a family are very scared and worried wondering what the future holds for us as we both are on H1B and my 5 year old is dependent on us . We never thought that something like this could happen for the things that happened unintentionally/not knowingly .
I request you all who are reading this to please help us with any kind of suggestions/advises/information as to how to go about this and how to come out of this incident ASAP. Any help is a good help and I thank you for your help in advance .
After this uncalled incident we are very depressed and stressed and not knowing what to do is making it worst for us as we are unable to concentrate or do anything else . Also , I was about to take a H1 transfer and also file for my GC (Wondering if its still a possibility )??
I am in USA(bay area,CA) on H1B visa, staying with my family of wife who is also on H1B and 1 kid who is 5 year old.
I had gone to a big retail store in Bay area, Ca for shopping with my wife and kid . I selected 5-6 items for myself in gents section and my wife selected 5-6 clothes for kid in the kids section which is on the 2nd floor or the store .After i finished with my thing I went on the second floor to join my wife and kid .My wife asked an employee if they had any bags/cart to keep the stuff to which she politely replied "No" . My 5 yr old had a fall couple of days back and broke her leg so she is on Cast and also was not keeping well as he has an upset stomach .As it was difficult for my wife and me to hold the clothes and manage the kid we put the clothes in a plastic bag that we had with us as we wanted to go for grocery shopping after this . We put the stuff in the plastic bag in front of one of the store's employee who was getting down the escalator with us .
After getting back to the first floor , my wife also wanted to check something for her and she finalized a jacket which had no price on it so i took to the jacket to scanner for price checking . Once done , we started walking towards to the cash counter which is right next to the enter/exist .As we were walking ,I was far ahead of my wife and kid and wanted to call someone and I got busy trying to reach out the person whom I was trying to call .However, as I was not getting connected I stepped out wondering if i was not getting proper signal/reception . I re entered the store and I was at the door and I saw my wife rushing towards the door with my kid mentioning the kid feels like throwing up and as I was on phone I could not understand much . As soon as my wife stepped with the bags and the jacket which was in her hand out with my kid, 3-4 people surrounded her and without asking or telling anything took the bags from her hand and asked my wife to get in .Once I realized that my wife had gone out with the bags in her hand i started walking towards the door to to check on my kid but before I could do that my wife was brought in and also I was asked to join them . I was asked to keep quiet and keep walking and then they took us to a room and made us sit .
After asking what was this regarding they told us that we were brought here as we have done a crime of "shoplifting" and we were totally surprised with what we just heard . They would not listen to us and took all our belongings and started with their paperwork etc etc .
Bottom line : We are now accused of shoplifting worth $900-$920 and the reason they give is we have put the clothes in bags and that none of the clothes had tags . I told them i removed 2 tags myself in shirts as I was unable to unbutton the shirt . Now with all the clothes secured electronically why would anyone remove the tags , I don't even know if the clothes had tags or were secured electronically .
They wanted us to sign on papers which pretty much says we did the theft , We did not sign the papers as we had no such intentions at all and now we are asked to pay penalty of 450$ each as civil demand notice within 5 days and that we would not enter the store for next 3 years .
A cop was called who after couple of conversations literally told us that we were lying and gave us both a ticket/yellow slip for shoplifting Misdemeanor "459.5 PC" and has asked to appear before the court in next 25 days . Wondering If we could extend the court date ?? Go to our home country and come back ?? Would we be charged guilty or not ?? Would we be sent to Jail if found guilty ?? If so , what happens to the kid ?? If found guilty , would it show in our records ?? DO i have to hire an attorney and what kind ?? Would we be deported and out of status in worst case scenario ??
We as a family are very scared and worried wondering what the future holds for us as we both are on H1B and my 5 year old is dependent on us . We never thought that something like this could happen for the things that happened unintentionally/not knowingly .
I request you all who are reading this to please help us with any kind of suggestions/advises/information as to how to go about this and how to come out of this incident ASAP. Any help is a good help and I thank you for your help in advance .
After this uncalled incident we are very depressed and stressed and not knowing what to do is making it worst for us as we are unable to concentrate or do anything else . Also , I was about to take a H1 transfer and also file for my GC (Wondering if its still a possibility )??
Comment