Bellflower, Shoplifting at Sephora, Dismissal at Arraignment

Our client, age 30, was stopped just outside the entrance and exit area of the Sephora store at the Los Cerritos Center.  Loss prevention had observed her walking around the store for a while and saw her put several items in her purse.  Our client then walked out past the cash registers and out of the store.

Loss prevention found our client had put six items in her purse.  They were: 1) Kerastase split ends serum costing $45; 2) three Dior Forever Skin Glow worth $155; 3) three Esteé Lauder makeup double wear selling for $126; 4) two Dior rouge makeup worth $100; 5) two Paula’s choice retinal treatment selling for $84; and 6) one Farmacy deep sweep toner selling for $55.  Loss prevention totaled up the value of the items as $633.

Loss prevention then called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, who came to the store and cited out our client for violating Penal Code § 484(a) (“petty theft”) after she signed a promise to appear in the Bellflower Courthouse about three months later. 

Our client was devastated.  She had ambitions of becoming a health care worker and with a conviction for petty theft, this might be difficult.  She was currently self-employed buying and selling items from eBay, but it did not pay much.

She then called Greg Hill & Associates the very next day and explained to Greg what had taken place.  She was extremely embarrassed.  She asked what she could do to help herself in court.  She had no prior criminal history.

Greg explained that she could demonstrate early acceptance of responsibility by enrolling in and taking an online shoplifting prevention course.  Greg explained that there were several such courses, but the Third Millennium “Stoplifting” course was sometimes required, but there were other courses, too, including one from Logan Social Services.  Greg explained that when she finished the course, she would be emailed a certificate of completion that would include the date she finished the course and that she should email it to Greg to print out and take to court at the arraignment.

Greg then explained to the client that the District Attorney handling the case would most likely offer a form of informal diversion, often called “DA Diversion,” wherein proceedings in the case would be suspended for six to twelve months and the client would be required to stay out of the store at issue or the entire shopping center, obey all laws, complete an in-person or online theft prevention class and possibly, perform 40 to 80 hours of community service.  If the client completed all such obligations, the case would be dismissed at the end of the six to twelve month period.

Greg also explained how he could request that, instead, the judge place our client on “judicial diversion” under similar terms, except with a $100 diversion fee payable to the Los Angeles Superior Court.  Greg explained that he may ask the judge for this if the terms of DA Diversion seem a bit extreme or unduly onerous.  Greg explained that in the client’s case, this may take place because of the relatively high value ($633) of items stolen.  

The client then retained Greg Hill & Associates and completed the Logan Social Services online shoplifting prevention class, a four-hour class.  She then emailed Greg the proof of completion certificate, showing she completed the class just four days after her detention at Sephora.

Greg then appeared on the client’s behalf in the Bellflower Courthouse for her arraignment.  Greg looked over the police report and discussed the case facts with the prosecutor.

The prosecutor then made an informal (“DA Diversion”) offer of six months of diversion, wherein the client would have to obey all laws, stay away from the Sephora at issue and complete an eight-hour shoplifting prevention program.  No community service was required.

Greg asked the prosecutor if the client’s four-hour shoplifting prevention program would suffice for the eight hour class since she completed it just four days after her offense.  Greg then handed the prosecutor a color copy of the certificate of completion for our client.

The prosecutor looked it over and announced he would just dismiss the case because the client took the class so early, she had no record and she seemed to take the offense very seriously.

The matter was then called for an arraignment by the judge and the DA announced that he requested that the judge dismiss the matter in the interest of justice under Penal Code § 1385.  The judge granted this request.  Greg had never seen this happen at an arraignment in 25 years of practice.

Greg then relayed the news to the client and explained how she was now eligible to have the police report and the record of the case filing sealed under Penal Code §§ 851.91 and 851.92.  The client was very happy with this result.