Shoplifting at Tiffany's, what to do now?


aarthi_24

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I am a student and new to US. Last Saturday, my friend and I went at a jewellery store and couldnt resist taking a beautiful ring. I put it inside my purse when nobody was looking. They caught us when leaving and they searched us. Then, we were taken to police station and we were fingerprinted, taken snaps and had to stay overnite. We couldnt sleep and so tired. Moreover we didnt know how to get back home. We have to go to court. We dont have money for lawyer. What to do now? 

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Aarthi when is your court date? Before DA office files charges you have to get an attorney who is very good.. Try to get charges not filed or if filed get a pre trial diversion without pleading guilty which will not cause amy issues with your stay and immigration. You will not be convicted if you take pre trial diversion because its your first offense.. Do not admit to anyone in court you did the crime. Say it was a mistake i did not do it. Also say NOT GUILTY. You can also get a public defender in court without paying money but they will not get u a good deal with the DA office. Contact me through email i can explain you all the things about this process..do not worry at all.. We can talk if you would like to ..

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You need a good lawyer. It will cost a lot of money.

Check the website of the state bar association. You can find it through a Google search.

They have a lawyer referral service.

Also make sure that the lawyer knows about your immigration status.

If this gets tried as a felony, it could lead to deportation.

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Aarthi: I am not from NJ so i dont anyone from there since i am from Cal. You can find 10 rating lawyers from Avvo website in your area.

1. Look what police has charged you with.

2. Did you get a citation ticket? What is the charge in it?

3. What is prosecutor planning to charge you with? See DA can charge you with anything it need not be what police has charged u with.

4. You will get a free public lawyer from court but the public lawyer may not be good at fighting your case.

5. Do not let prosecutor charge you with felony it has very bad immigration consequences you can be deported.

6. Try to get the charges dropped after a pre trial diversion program without pleading guilty. DO NOT PLEAD GUILTY. Always say you did not do the crime. DO NOT ADMIT the crime.

Email and contact me i can help you with suggestions and if you are short of mone y let me know.. I can help u..

century @ tutanota . Com

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Aarthi first u have to hire a lawyer if u don't have money i can give u as a loan with no interest i can give u the contact of my lawyer.. Email me *************@ tutanota . Com .. Which city state u in?

 

A loan from somebody anonymous over the Internet. Yeah right.

That would only result in more problems for the OP.

Geez.

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Court date is on 1st dec. This happened at short hills mall in NJ. I live in Newark. Me and my friend went there to look around. I am so ashamed of typing here in-front of all of you, telling my story. But after staying overnight in a cell stripped us of all our values we were brought up with. My friend couldnt recover from the shock for a week. She didn't eat nor talk, only wept. We are thinking about going back to India. 

 

Attorney fees are very high in 2k range, the stolen good amount is 5k, so its a felony. We will be deported anyway. Its on camera, even if we say we didn't do it. Thank you everyone for the kind words, esp century and JoeF. I have a question for you. If I stole and she was with me, will she get the punishment? She knew I was doing it, but she can deny that and atleast she can be here?

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If the value of the item or ring was over 500 or 1000 it may be a felony.. Hire the best lawyer from Avvo in your NJ area. That could help you from not being convicted..

Your defense lawyer can get you a good deal with prosecutors since it was your first offense.

Theft is a CIMT crime in nature which has bad consequences for immigration if convicted in court. Get case dismissed without guilty plead..

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Hello Aarthi hire the defense lawyer i am telling you the lawyer can get you the punishment dropped to probation without going to jail. Or may be reduce the charges from felony to a misdemeanor. Which is less serious than felony,

Can you contact me to my email i have posted in my previous post..whats your contact number? I can call u..

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Ask your parents or your friends to help u with finance or money to pay the lawyer.. Did you have a consultation with any lawyer? Tell the information to a lawyer and see what he or she says.. If they can wait for your payment thats ok and you can make initial payment to lawyer and help u with the case.. At the end lawyer can get the full money back.. Contact me to my email lets not talk in public forum..

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  • 2 weeks later...

We got money and hired a good defense lawyer today. He wanted full upfront payment, so it took a while. He asked us not to worry and he is an ex-prosecutor. He has seen these cases and will delay the case as much as he can until July of next year. 3 out of 5 times the store will lose interest and wont pursue. But first he gave us both a big lecture about what we did was wrong. We told him we learnt our lesson and it was moment of weakness. He didn't believe us that it was our first time and asked for a list of things we stole in the past. 

 

After seeing his confidence in the case, we are a bit relieved. We want to put this behind us and be model immigrants. I hope our example will stop others from making our mistakes. It is just not worth it. We were almost packed to leave for India. 

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Hello,

 

Here one more idiot like that, I committed a mistake on nov22 at Boscov's taking away a jacket and couple of dresses, retail price $520, Case filed under 3rd degree. Case is at County level, Appointed a Criminal layer, he said he will make sure I will get the Pretrail Intervention, so that we need not to plea guilty. So that it wont go as conviction and after a year the case will be dismissed and less issues with Immigration.

 

Please throw some light here guys... I fell really bad about the incident. I was arrested and finger printed.

I have 2 small kids, working as consultent with 140 approved... Not sure what to do...

 

Please suggest me does Pre trail Intervention causes any issues in future?

 

Thanks

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vslila, i share your feelings and know what you are going through. Atleast I had a partner in crime who i could share my grief. I hope your spouse knows about this. I am a newbie here and no expect, but my advise is don't panic, and it will not help in any way. Hiring a good lawyer will give you peace of mind and you can concentrate on better things in your life. 

 

I am ready to confess that I have taken clothes numerous times from stores both in india and here. I guess I was overconfident and went for jewellery. 

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