student4938
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Oregon
Hi everyone,
I was in my university's bookstore, I needed a pencil for some design class, and I put it in my pocket and left. I was stopped, the event was filed with the school and the police. It was noted repeatedly that I was very cooperative. I paid a $100 dollar fine + the retail price of the pencil (<$3). I didn't deny anything since they had store security footage. I am 19 years old.
I have a court date in a month. The officer made it sound like I would most likely get a class C misdemeanor and whatever punishment was deemed necessary. Is there ANY way that I can keep this off my criminal record? I'm a 4.0 student, involved in tons of extracurriculars, I volunteer in the community, I've never done anything like this before (clean record), and never plan to again. I would do 1000 hours of community service or whatever it takes. I just feel like if this goes on my record-even if I explain to potential future employers that it was just a stupid mistake (and just a single pencil)-it will severely impact the rest of my life. Please give me any possible advice for the court date.
Note: So far I have not told anyone a reason for the theft, I've just said that "I wasn't thinking". There was technically a very long line at the bookstore, and I did have somewhere I needed to be. Would it be better to state this reason (at the court date)? Or would it be detrimental/seem devious at this point, since I didn't previously volunteer that information?
Thank you all so much for everything.
I was in my university's bookstore, I needed a pencil for some design class, and I put it in my pocket and left. I was stopped, the event was filed with the school and the police. It was noted repeatedly that I was very cooperative. I paid a $100 dollar fine + the retail price of the pencil (<$3). I didn't deny anything since they had store security footage. I am 19 years old.
I have a court date in a month. The officer made it sound like I would most likely get a class C misdemeanor and whatever punishment was deemed necessary. Is there ANY way that I can keep this off my criminal record? I'm a 4.0 student, involved in tons of extracurriculars, I volunteer in the community, I've never done anything like this before (clean record), and never plan to again. I would do 1000 hours of community service or whatever it takes. I just feel like if this goes on my record-even if I explain to potential future employers that it was just a stupid mistake (and just a single pencil)-it will severely impact the rest of my life. Please give me any possible advice for the court date.
Note: So far I have not told anyone a reason for the theft, I've just said that "I wasn't thinking". There was technically a very long line at the bookstore, and I did have somewhere I needed to be. Would it be better to state this reason (at the court date)? Or would it be detrimental/seem devious at this point, since I didn't previously volunteer that information?
Thank you all so much for everything.
