Asked to pay $250 for shoplifting before civil action is taken.

I quit my former employeer just 3 short months ago and told my coworkers but not my manager. Long story short I was accused of stealing merchandise as my coworker for the night apparently had been caught with several hundred dollars in merchandise and decided to take me down too for the rest of the stuff they couldn't find as I quit the night he had apparently done it. So I was contacted by internal loss prevention and told them the only thing I had taken was a USB cable from work. I was asked to pay for the product but when I told the LPM that it wasn't a cable we carried he found a smilar item price and told me to pay that. To avoid hassle I sent an MO with a statement of what I had seen my former coworker doing. I in no way admitted to theft but rather just sent the MO.

The thing to understand is, this was a generic cable as I said that the company did not carry for sale, in the back hallway of an older store strip. The cable was not in the store itself but rather on leased property. I'm unsure if that area is still considered part of the store itself. It was in what the LPM called a "snakebox" which is leftover/misc cables for store use etc or to be included in clearance items if a similar cable is missing. This box is not intended for retail sale at all.

The letter is in regards to Arizona Revised Statute 12-691. Asking me to pay the amount of $250 or face civil action and attorney fees. Shoplifting in Arizona is defined by ARS 13-1805.

13-1805. Shoplifting; detaining suspect; defense to wrongful detention; civil action by merchant; classification; public services in lieu of fines

A. A person commits shoplifting if, while in an establishment in which merchandise is displayed for sale, the person knowingly obtains such goods of another with the intent to deprive that person of such goods by:

1. Removing any of the goods from the immediate display or from any other place within the establishment without paying the purchase price; or

2. Charging the purchase price of the goods to a fictitious person or any person without that person's authority; or

3. Paying less than the purchase price of the goods by some trick or artifice such as altering, removing, substituting or otherwise disfiguring any label, price tag or marking; or

4. Transferring the goods from one container to another; or

5. Concealment.

B. Any person who knowingly conceals upon himself or another person unpurchased merchandise of any mercantile establishment while within the mercantile establishment is presumed to have the necessary culpable mental state pursuant to subsection A of this section.

C. A merchant, or a merchant's agent or employee, with reasonable cause, may detain on the premises in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable time any person who is suspected of shoplifting as prescribed in subsection A of this section for questioning or summoning a law enforcement officer.

D. Reasonable cause is a defense to a civil or criminal action against a peace officer, a merchant or an agent or employee of the merchant for false arrest, false or unlawful imprisonment or wrongful detention.

E. If a minor engages in conduct that violates subsection A of this section notwithstanding the fact that the minor may not be held responsible because of the person's minority, any merchant injured by the shoplifting of the minor may bring a civil action against the parent or legal guardian of the minor under either section 12-661 or 12-692.

F. Any merchant who is injured by the shoplifting of an adult or emancipated minor in violation of subsection A of this section may bring a civil action against the adult or emancipated minor pursuant to section 12-691.

G. Shoplifting property with a value of two thousand dollars or more or shoplifting property during any continuing criminal episode regardless of the value of the goods is a class 5 felony. Shoplifting property with a value of one thousand dollars or more but less than two thousand dollars is a class 6 felony. Shoplifting property valued at less than one thousand dollars is a class 1 misdemeanor, unless the property is a firearm in which case the shoplifting is a class 6 felony. For the purposes of this subsection, "continuing criminal episode" means theft committed from at least three separate retail establishments within a period of three consecutive days.

H. In imposing sentence on a person who is convicted of violating this section, the court may require any person to perform public services designated by the court in addition to or in lieu of any fine that the court might impose.

I. A person who commits shoplifting and who has previously committed or been convicted within the past five years of two or more offenses involving burglary, shoplifting, robbery or theft or who in the course of shoplifting entered the mercantile establishment with an artifice, instrument, container, device or other article that was intended to facilitate shoplifting is guilty of a class 4 felony.

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The bold section I feel is appropriate to my case. I attempted to contact the Law Firm and discuss this in an adult dialog. But I would assume as it isn't a true legal matter yet but a request before it becomes one. I can't talk to a lawyer unless I refuse to pay and appoint my own attorney as apparently I am unqualified to read basic english and handle this situation myself.

It does not appear you were "shoplifting". You can dispute the request and deny you did anything wrong at all anyway if that is the case.

I have denied, but I need more certainty before saying I refuse the option to pay forcing them to review and possibily file charges.

Easier method, the specific date in question for which I'm under suspision is a month after I quit working there. So I can simply say no thank you and let them do whatever they want.