A Wyoming college student probably never thought he’d be making headlines around the country when he got caught eating a donut he hadn’t paid for.
According to reports, the 19-year-old was charged with misdemeanor shoplifting after employees at a store say they spotted him leaving the premises without anteing up the $.79 for the donut.
Rather than go to trial over this crime of the century, the teen made a deal with the city attorney to pay a $200 fine, $10 in court costs and the original $.79 he should have paid in the first place.
“I’ve deferred the prosecution and at the end of six months the charge will be dismissed fully if he has not been in any more trouble related to larceny or theft,” the prosecutor tells a reporter for the Northwest Trail.
The paper reports that when the student, who was with other patrons who paid for their purchases at the register, was snagged with the purloined pastry, which he said he simply forgot to pay for, he attempted to make good by paying for it.
But the store’s owner maintained that, “Policy is policy… Paid for is OK; not paid for is shoplifting.”
Other area residents think the punishment may have been too harsh. “I think it’s ridiculous that the store and police are pursuing this,” one student tells the Trail. “He was willing to pay it back at the store and it was an innocent mistake blown out of proportion.”
Since everyone loves to play judge Judy and executioner, here’s a poll where you can decide the young thief’s fate:
Doughnut case glazed over before trial [Northwest Trail via SeattlePI.com]
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The thief got no jail time, no criminal record and a very small fine. Seems fair to me.
Instead of getting the cops, etc. involved and wasting the time of the judicial system, I’m sure this could have been handled differently.
A store policy where, if caught shoplifting, you will be charged 3x the amount and if the items total over a certain amount ($10, $20?), the police will become involved, seems fair to me. Managerial discretion would be used of course.
If it seems obvious there was intent to steal (as a lot of folks are assuming in this case…), paying $2.37 for a doughnut seems about right to me. You wasted your time and the stores, and paid way more than you would have if you’d just paid for it in the first place. Lesson learned?
I’d say it would depend on what percentage of shoplifters get caught. If you catch 1 of every 5, then they should pay 5x plus a penalty. Otherwise paying 3x when you have a 1 in 5 chance of being caught will work out in you favor over the long haul.
The fine has to be just high enough to discourage people from doing this sort of thing, not just the monetary value of the item. Otherwise, the only downside to stealing from stores is the five seconds of embarrassment people normally get from setting off the store buzzers — which isn’t much.
The fine isn’t even that much, considering that some cities fine that much for just parking too long. I say make him walk in public in a donut suit with a placard telling people he got caught stealing a donut. Even one hour a day for a week would make someone think twice about stealing ever again.
This is America. The country where one out of 50 men is behind bars on any given day. The country with seven times more prisoners per capita than Canada and Western Europe. The country with the largest prison population in the world, both on an absolute and per capita basis; more prisoners than Russia, more prisoners than China. America has 2,500,000 prisoners today; not on parole, not on probation, but behind bars, right this minute.
In this country, we have given out a 15-year prison sentence for simple theft of a pizza.
That Consumerist would ask “is a small fine too harsh” shows how COMPLETELY disconnected the web-browsing class is from the reality of the how “the system” treats America’s underclass.
If this kid had been from the ‘hood rather than from Wyoming, he’d have been fed into the prison-industrial complex already. And there wouldn’t be a Consumerist story about it.
I hope the mass of student’s new “policy is a policy” is to not go to this shop until the owner makes good to the student to the tune of $210.79.
Let say 20 students don’t show up per day for an average of 2$ profit lost each then it only takes that small group 6 days to blow past the money owed. 40 students not ever coming back might be enough to tip the place into ruin.
How many times has he walked away without getting caught? He stole the donut, got caught, tried to BS his way out of it – he can now pay the fine.
this kid will soon learn his lesson and apply for Obama Stamps where ALL food and drink is free with a swipe of his very own government food card. perfectly legal and a good way to get around those pesky business owners.
You mean “Bush Stamps,” since more people were added to the food-stamps rolls during the Shrub’s administration than during Obama’s.
I don’t buy this guy’s excuse. Not only did he forget to pay for the donut, but his friends didn’t say anything to him either. That seems odd to me. If I saw my friend eat something in the store and not pay for it, I’d say something.
I used to have pretty bad blood sugar issues when I was younger. I have had to eat stuff at the store before I got to the checkout or I would have fainted. I always would put the wrapper in the cart, or held it in my hand to make sure I didn’t forget to pay for it. And it was usually the first thing I would have the cashier ring up so I wouldn’t forget.
I think the punishment was completely fair. He stole something that was relatively low in value and he got a fine that was relatively low as well. If he stays out of trouble, he gets his record wiped clean. As an adult he should know that there are consequences to his actions.
Here’s a comparison — right now in NYC, there’s a $100 fine for stealing $2.25. That risk of getting caught is so low that it’s cost effective to steal the $2.25 multiple times a day and only pay the fine when you get caught. So there’s a law going through the state senate trying to raise the fine to $500.
A $200 fine doesn’t seem out of line to me.
Might be something as small or miniscule as a donut now, but it could just be baby steps up to something larger or more expensive next time.
America: The place were a man steals billions and is given a 4 year jail sentence, while another man gets 15 years for stealing $100 and then giving it back.
Reminds me of one of my favorite Steve Martin skits:
You.. can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You say.. “Steve.. how can I be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes?” First.. get a million dollars.
Now.. you say, “Steve.. what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, ‘You.. have never paid taxes’?” Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: “I forgot!”
How many times do we let ourselves get into terrible situations because we don’t say “I forgot”? Let’s say you’re on trial for armed robbery. You say to the judge, “I forgot armed robbery was illegal.” Let’s suppose he says back to you, “You have committed a foul crime. you have stolen hundreds and thousands of dollars from people at random, and you say, ‘I forgot’?” Two simple words: Excuuuuuse me!!”
—————————–
If he’s an honest citizen, then I bet he doesn’t “forget” to pay for his doughnut again.
And $200 is a bargin. A speeding ticket costs more than that.
Hmm… policy is policy eh.
I personally question the sanity of the individual(s) who feel that .79 cents is worth a $200 dollar fine. If the gentleman had not offered to pay THEN I could see that this fine would be in order, but shit a “honest” mistake is not worth $200 dollars. Really was not worth the hassle.
Of course common sense seems to be missing from some business owners, managers, and law enforcement officials, in my opinion too.
Now, if only the penalty for copying a MP3 file off the internet were this reasonable!
$500-$1000 is usually the fine for fare evasion (on proof of payment systems such as MUNI in San Francisco), considering a doughnut is about half a subway fare, I think $200 is appropriate.
Would I have prosecuted the guy? Probably not, unless he was a repeat offender, but it’s hard to pass judgement without knowing intent.
Totally unfair result, unless he was heard to be singing ” don’t know much about history, don’t know much biology…” under his breath. Bluto was a P-I-G, pig!
Are you fine with people stealing from you?
You obviously didn’t get the joke.
Pay first,eat second.
Why are we calling him a “kid”? This guy is 19-years-old. You are setting very bad precedents if you let him off the hook. You would basically be saying to the general public “Try to steal from me, see if you can manage to not get caught, and if you lose you just pay the regular price of the food.
Stealing is stealing. If he’s stealing a donut, he’s probably stealing other things.
I was in Home Depot & saw a jerk in line grab a $1 Snickers bar, eat it & pocket the wrapper. He probably does it everywhere he goes.
If a company has a multitude of small items stolen, it certainly adds up to big bucks & we all pay for it.
I’ve never forgot to pay for something and walked out of a store. Never.
My guess is plenty of people who shoplift either say – I forgot to pay or I can pay. It doesn’t matter if you forgot or if you can. The fact is you didn’t, and that is a crime.
If he wanted to plead innocence because he allegedly forgot, then he should have asked for a trial.
By the way, he ate the donut while he was still in the store. Have we not established that you shouldn’t eat things inside stores if you haven’t paid for it yet? I’m just waiting for the claim that he had to eat the donut because of a medical condition (i.e., low blood sugar) or something. Or, you know, since he’s studying criminal justice – he was just testing the system…
I used to work in retail and a common response from a shoplifter when being stopped was that he or she wants to now pay for the item after being stopped. Technically when shoplifting in Calif and you don’t have any money or not enough on your person you can be charged with burglary. You came into the store with intent. Fortunately for the student this didn’t apply in this case. The fine of $200 in combination with the conditions that the judge set is a fair judgement and hopefully the 19 year old when learn a lesson from this.
I’ve made that mistake, and once I noticed, I wen’t right back in and paid for it. No one seemed to mind :/ Those jalapeno cheese rolls are so nom I just can’t wait!
This was at the same store I was caught stealing before when I was a little kid and they said anything under $1 they just make you pay for or return. More than $1 they get the cops involved.
I still eat things in a store and pay for them, but sometimes it slips my mind if its just a donut or something because all you have left is a tiny square of blue plastic, not like a whole soda bottle. I however don’t eat things that need to be weighed!
How many doughnuts do they throw away every day? But let’s prosecute for one EATEN.
And…. This is why you don’t eat the food until after you pay for it. I know people sometimes walk around grocery stores eating/drinking something they just picked up off the shelves. But, when they do that, they run the risk that they won’t remember to pay for it and they will have shoplifted.
Heck, eating food you don’t own is shoplifting all by itself — the store would have been right to call the cops on him even before he got to the checkout.
It’s a grocery store, not a restaurant. Pay first, then eat.
In these times of murderers and rapists serving 5 years or less for THEIR heinous crimes, this $200 fine for $.79 donut is ridiculous.