Retail Theft

If you watched a recent episode of the ABC sitcom, "The Goldbergs," you would have been led to believe that retail theft in Pennsylvania is a minor inconvenience and embarrassment resulting in nothing more than being banned from the store in question. In the episode...

As a criminal defense lawyer with an office two blocks away from Penn State University, I get calls every day from otherwise intelligent students who suffered a momentary lapse of judgment. Although most lapses of judgment occur when drunk, retail theft is a crime...

The classic retail theft scenario involves hiding items, and then walking right out the front door of a store without paying for them. Yet not all retail thefts follow this pattern. Under Pennsylvania law, one form or retail theft involves consuming or tampering with...

I have lost track of how many calls I have received from a frantic recent college graduate, who has just been fired from her new job, after the company obtained her criminal background check. The caller goes on to explain that she pled guilty to a retail theft while a...