Murrieta theft defense attorneys handle shoplifting, petty theft, and grand theft cases filed in Riverside County Superior Court.
Key Takeaways:
- Two prior theft convictions can make a minor shoplifting a felony.
- Theft requires proof that you meant to permanently keep the property.
- Earl Carter Criminal Defense can often appear in court without you present.
In a California theft case, the price tag carries more weight than almost anything else in the file. Under state theft law, $950 is the line between petty theft and grand theft, and a receipt on either side of that number changes the charge, the exposure, and the entire conversation in the courthouse.
Earl Carter Criminal Defense has defended theft cases across California since 1975. Our Murrieta theft defense attorneys handle everything from a first shoplifting citation to felony grand theft, and a $60 case gets the same attention as a $6,000 one, because the record it leaves behind is permanent either way.
Get a free case evaluation before you talk to anyone else about it.
What Actually Decides Whether Your Theft Charge Is a Felony
Four factors drive the charging decision.
- Value of the property. Petty theft covers $950 or less and is normally a misdemeanor. Above that line, the case becomes grand theft, which can be filed as either a misdemeanor or a felony.
- What was taken. Firearms and vehicles are grand theft regardless of value, and so is anything taken directly off a person.
- Your prior record. Penal Code 666.1, added by Proposition 36 in December 2024, allows a felony filing on a petty theft or shoplifting case when you have two or more qualifying theft priors. Those priors have no expiration date.
- Whether the counts get combined. Prosecutors can aggregate the value of related thefts across separate incidents, multiple victims, and even other counties to clear the $950 threshold.
Shoplifting also has its own statute. Penal Code 459.5 covers entering an open business intending to take $950 or less, and the crime is complete at entry, which is why people get charged even when nothing leaves the store. Theft cases out of Murrieta, Temecula, and Menifee are filed at the Southwest Justice Center on Auld Road, where the Riverside County District Attorney has charged repeat theft aggressively since Prop 36 took effect.
What to Do After a Theft Accusation in Murrieta
What happens in the first hour often matters more than what happens in court months later.
Stop talking about the merchandise. Loss prevention officers can detain you on reasonable suspicion, and their written report becomes evidence. Explaining yourself in a back office has never once improved a case.
Do not sign a store admission. A signed statement handed to a detained shopper is not a settlement. It is a confession the prosecutor will read later.
Keep the civil demand letter. Retailers can demand payment separately from the criminal case under Penal Code 490.5. Paying it does not dismiss the charge, and it is not an admission to make without advice.
Save receipts, bank records, and card statements. Value is contestable. Prosecutors often use the full retail price when the real figure is lower, and on a case sitting near $950, that difference decides the charge.
Show up to the arraignment. Missing it turns a manageable theft case into a bench warrant, and warrants close doors that were otherwise still open.
Our Murrieta theft defense attorneys can take most of this off your plate from the first call.
Why Clients Call Our Murrieta Theft Defense Attorneys
In most misdemeanor theft matters, we can appear for you, so a shoplifting citation does not cost you a day of work every time the case lands on the calendar. We also work with flexible payment arrangements.
Our theft and robbery practice covers petty theft, shoplifting, grand theft, burglary, robbery, and receiving stolen property, and the same attorneys handle the whole range. That matters more in theft cases than in most, because a charge that starts as a citation can turn into a felony the moment a prior surfaces. Theft counts also rarely arrive alone, and our Murrieta criminal defense work covers the charges that get filed alongside them.
We also think past the disposition. If your case resolves with a conviction, expungement is often available down the road, and how the case is resolved now determines whether that door stays open.
A theft charge is worth fighting even when the dollar amount is small, because the conviction outlasts the case by decades. Our experienced Murrieta theft defense attorneys will tell you what the prosecutor actually has and what it will take to beat it or bring it down.
Get a free case evaluation today.
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