Memphis Shoplifting Lawyer

Most shoplifting cases in Memphis are not charged as “shoplifting.” Tennessee has no offense by that name. Retail theft is charged either as theft of merchandise under Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-146 or as general theft of property under § 39-14-103, and graded by dollar value under § 39-14-105. At $1,000 or less it is a Class A misdemeanor that stays in General Sessions at 201 Poplar. At $1,000 and above it becomes a felony, and the case moves toward a preliminary hearing and the grand jury.

That dollar line is where most of the fight is. Store loss-prevention reports routinely list retail price rather than actual value, count items that were never past the point of sale, or aggregate separate incidents into a single figure to push a misdemeanor into felony range. Whether the State can actually prove the value it alleged is often the whole case.

Charged with shoplifting or retail theft in Memphis or Shelby County? Call the office at (901) 324-5000, or call or text the criminal line at 901-412-2973. Free consultation.

Citation or arrest — and why it matters

Many Memphis shoplifting cases begin with a misdemeanor citation under Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-7-118 rather than a physical arrest. You are released at the store or on scene with a date to appear. That is better than booking, but it is not a dismissal, and it is not a minor matter you can pay off like a ticket. It is a criminal charge with a court date, and failing to appear turns it into a warrant.

If you were arrested instead, you were booked at 201 Poplar and given a bond. Either way, the case lands in General Sessions Criminal Court. See how misdemeanor citations work in Memphis and what happens after an arrest.

What the store has to have caught you doing

The offense reaches more than walking out with something in a bag. Concealing merchandise, altering or swapping a price tag, moving goods from one container into another, and causing the register to show less than the real price are all covered — and concealment alone can be offered as evidence of intent. That is why so many of these cases turn on video of what happened in an aisle rather than at the door.

It also means the store’s proof is often thinner than the affidavit suggests. Concealment is not the same as intent to steal, and a person who puts an item in a bag while shopping and then forgets it has done something that looks identical on camera to a person who meant to take it. The statutory detail is on our theft of merchandise page.

Self-checkout cases

A growing share of retail theft charges now come out of self-checkout rather than out of an aisle. The pattern is familiar: items in the bagging area that were never scanned, a produce code entered for a more expensive item, a scan that did not register. Stores increasingly use software that flags the discrepancy automatically and then pulls the video.

These cases are worth looking at closely, because the machine records what was scanned but not what the person believed they had scanned. Failed scans are ordinary. The question is whether the proof establishes intent or only establishes a discrepancy, and those are not the same thing. Where a store has aggregated several visits detected by the same software, the reliability of that aggregation is a fair target.

What we look at first

• The loss-prevention report, and whether the observation was continuous — gaps in surveillance undercut the claim that concealment was intentional.
• Whether the video shows the whole sequence or only the moment the store chose to keep. Footage cycles out fast, so a preservation request goes out early.
• The stated value, item by item, against the actual price at that store on that day.
• How the stop was conducted, what was said, and whether anything was searched or seized.
• Whether the merchandise was recovered and returned to inventory, which affects restitution and how a prosecutor sees the case.

Keeping it off your record

For most first-time shoplifting clients, the goal is not winning a trial. It is making sure there is no theft conviction on your record when an employer runs a background check. A theft conviction reads differently to a hiring manager than almost any other misdemeanor, because it goes to honesty. There are several routes to avoiding one:

• Dismissal. Where the stop, the detention, or the proof of value will not hold up, the right result is the charge going away entirely — and a dismissal costs nothing to expunge.
• Merchant restitution. Some retailers and some prosecutors will agree to resolve the case on payment to the store, with no guilty plea and no probation. Not every store participates and not every prosecutor accepts it, but where it is available it is usually the cleanest outcome — and it matters a great deal for clients who are not U.S. citizens, because there is no plea entered.
• Judicial diversion. A guilty plea is held without entry of judgment during a probationary period; complete it and the charge is dismissed and expunged. It works, but it requires the plea and it carries probation and fees.
• Amendment to a non-theft offense. In the right case, a negotiated amendment moves the charge off the theft column entirely.

Which of those is realistic depends on the store, the prosecutor, the division, the dollar amount, and your record. That is a conversation worth having before your first court date, not after. More on first-offense theft and diversion in Tennessee.

Students, visa holders, and licensed professionals

Tell us at the first conversation if any of these apply, because they change what counts as an acceptable outcome. A resolution that is perfectly sensible for one person can be the wrong one for a nursing student, a teacher, someone holding a commercial license, or someone whose immigration status is affected by a plea.

Theft is treated as a crime of moral turpitude in several contexts that do not care how small the amount was, and diversion — which is not a conviction under Tennessee law — is not always read the same way by a licensing board or by immigration authorities. See our immigration defense page if that is your situation. University conduct proceedings frequently move faster than the criminal case, so raise that early too.

The civil demand letter

Weeks after the citation, many clients get a letter from a law firm on behalf of the retailer demanding several hundred dollars under Tennessee’s civil recovery statute. That letter is separate from your criminal case. Paying it does not dismiss the charge, and ignoring it does not create a new criminal charge.

Do not respond to it — or send money — before you have talked to the lawyer handling your criminal case, because what you write can end up in the criminal file. We go through it in detail in the civil demand letter explained.

Being banned from the store

Stores routinely serve a notice barring you from their property. That notice is worth keeping and worth taking seriously: returning after it has been served can support a separate criminal trespass charge, and for a national chain the ban may cover every location, not just the one you were in. People pick up a second charge this way without realizing the first one is still pending.

Organized retail theft and aggregated cases

Shelby County and the suburb departments have both moved toward charging repeat retail incidents as organized retail crime or aggregating multiple visits into one felony count. Booster bags, tag removers, and similar items support a separate charge for possession of tools to disable theft deterrent devices. These cases look overwhelming on the affidavit and are frequently far weaker on the proof — identification across incidents and valuation are both real pressure points. See felony defense.

What happens at your first court date

The first setting is usually brief. The case is called, counsel is noted, and it is reset so the file can be obtained and discussed with the prosecutor. Almost nothing is decided that day.

What is decided that day is whether you appeared. A failure to appear produces a capias, and clearing one is more work and more expense than the underlying charge deserved. If you cannot get there, call before the setting rather than after it.

Where we handle these cases

Memphis and Shelby County cases go to General Sessions at 201 Poplar. Suburb cases are different: a shoplifting citation written in Germantown, Collierville, or Bartlett is set in that city’s municipal court if it stays a misdemeanor, and moves to Shelby County if it does not. We also handle theft cases in Fayette, Tipton, Lauderdale, and Haywood counties. Two Memphis-area write-ups: caught shoplifting at Wolfchase and a theft charge in Germantown.

What it costs

Misdemeanor shoplifting in Shelby County General Sessions starts at $750 as a flat attorney fee. If the value alleged pushes the case into felony range, felony theft starts at $1,500. Court costs and any restitution are separate. See what a theft lawyer costs in Memphis.

Related: Memphis theft charges · theft of merchandise under $1,000 · theft of property under $1,000 · misdemeanor defense · expungement

Tell us what the citation says and we will tell you the fee. Office (901) 324-5000 · criminal line 901-412-2973.