Walk It Through: The Price Tag
A switched tag as retail theft, a detention on probable cause, and grades that climb with priors.
In a store, a shopper swaps the price tag from a cheap shirt onto an expensive one and heads to the register.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One store and one shirt. Amounts added across a scheme, motor fuel, and what each grade carries are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- ConcealmentIntentionally concealing unpurchased merchandise, in the store or outside it. It is presumed to be done with the intent to deprive the merchant of the merchandise without paying full retail value.
- Merchant detentionA peace officer, merchant, employee or contracted agent with probable cause may detain a retail theft suspect in a reasonable manner for a reasonable time to identify them, recover merchandise and inform the police.
- Retail theftTheft from a store, graded by value and history: a first offense under $150 is a summary offense, and a third or later offense, or more than $1,000, is a felony of the third degree.
- Summary offenseThe lowest grade of offense, punishable by not more than 90 days, with a fine of up to $300 unless a higher fine is set.