Do I Need a Lawyer for Larceny

Shoplifting Charges – Wake County:  Do I Need a Lawyer for Larceny?

These are charges that can follow you around forever – John Fanney

§ 14-72.1.  Concealment of merchandise in mercantile establishments.

(a)        Whoever, without authority, willfully conceals the goods or merchandise of any store, not theretofore purchased by such person, while still upon the premises of such store, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished as provided in subsection (e). Such goods or merchandise found concealed upon or about the person and which have not theretofore been purchased by such person shall be prima facie evidence of a willful concealment.

See Also:  Larceny in North Carolina 2017

Modified Transcript of “Do I Need a Lawyer for Larceny?” for the Hearing Impaired

Hi, I’m John Fanney with Fanney Law Office, and today I’m taking questions off the internet to answer. Now, I want to let you know these are not clients. These are folks just like yourselves who are looking for some information to maybe some legal problems they’re facing.

Today’s question is, “I was in Walmart. I didn’t have any money, and I took some toys to give to my kids for Christmas, and I got stopped. I don’t know if it was a police officer or not. I was taken into a side room. I was told to sign a piece of paper. They got their stuff back, and the police wrote me a ticket and told me I was free to go. Is this a big deal?”

What you probably don’t realize is, you’re talking about larceny. Larceny is a very big deal.

In North Carolina, there’s couple of different kinds of larceny. There’s misdemeanor larceny, if things are under a certain dollar amount. There’s felony larceny if things are over a certain dollar amount.

There’s often, also, a charge called concealment of goods, when you actually never make it out of the store. You’re just walking around, and you put something in your pocket. That’s unlawful concealment. These are charges that can follow you around forever. You may not go to jail, but you’re going to be on probation, perhaps.

You’re going to have a misdemeanor on your record.

You won’t be, ever go back to Walmart again. This thing will follow you around forever.

Next time you go in for a job interview, there it’ll be. Misdemeanor larceny conviction. A lot of people look at larceny as nothing more than someone being a thief. It doesn’t matter why you took something. Your kids may have really needed whatever you got for them.

They may have needed to eat, but still, that’s no defense, so larceny is a big deal. If you get caught several times and get convicted of larceny, even if it’s something worth a dollar, if you have enough prior convictions for larceny on your record, you can be charged with habitual larceny, which is a felony.

These are serious offenses, so you need to contact a lawyer who knows how to handle these things, who knows the implications of what a larceny conviction looks like in Wake County and the Raleigh area.

I’m John Fanney. I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I’ve handled countless numbers of larceny cases just like the one you may be facing.

Give me a call. I can help.

Attorney John K. Fanney