Wal-mart petty theft

I was in Wal-mart put 3 items in my pocket with total value of $36.96. The security guard said i wont be arrested and he will make the complaint to a magistrate then the magistrate will order me to pay the retail value but then i got 3 letters saying to prevent legal actions pay us $125 since i did not respond the second letter said now it went up to $250 then they said since i did not respond they will send a final letter and the amount is $426 failure to pay this our client can choose to pursue this matter in court. Please make full payments according to the terms hereof to avoid the possibility of such actions. I refused there propositions now i have a summons for a criminal case. So can they do that? Is that legal? Secondly on the criminal complaint the security guard lies stating that he detained me outside the store but infact he stopped me rite after i paid for other merchandise he also stated i used a knife to open the packages of 3 items one was a bottle of NyQuil & bottle of Tylenol but those items do not have packages. the 3rd item was an electronic device and was the only one i opened. Now for him lying can my case be dismissed? And is it considered stolen if i never left the store? I was about 20 feet from the exit inside he said he stopped me outside. No police were involved, i wasn\'t handcuffed nor banned from the store. I was very cooperative and even offered to pay for the merchandise at the time. He no took my info and picture and let me walk out. Can the case be dismissed if proven upon what im telling you or can i still get in trouble? My preliminary hearing is on 10/20/09. this took place on 11/16/2008 and the criminal complaint was made 12/29/08 and was approved by a D.A on 08/05/09. is there some type of time frame limit to do these things like taking too long to file criminal complaint or taking too long to be approved from the D.A??.. Any answers would be much appreciated even if all questions cant be answered. Thank you for your time

They can request a civil penalty--there are laws that allow that in shoplifting situations. And nrmally it is much better to pay and avoid criminal actions.

[sunlover]

At this point it appears criminal charges have not been filed and might not be. Pay the Civil Demand and hopefully this will be over. There is a forum site jsut for iisues like this you can ask at as well. I will provide web address

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