Orange County Criminal Defense Attorney
Tustin, California Call (714) 589-3063
Costco loss prevention may have a receipt, surveillance video, membership information, and an unpaid item. But a criminal theft case can involve a much more important question: was this intentional, or was it a mistake?
I have represented people who believed a spouse scanned an item, accidentally left merchandise underneath a cart, or were accused after a checkout mistake. The evidence and sequence of events matter.
Most people I represent in these cases have never been in this situation before. They are embarrassed, scared, and often want to immediately explain what happened.
Be careful about turning that explanation into evidence against yourself. Loss-prevention personnel may document what you say, and statements may later become part of a police report or prosecution case.
Preserve your receipt, citation, membership information, civil-demand correspondence, and anything else related to the incident. If police contact you about the allegation, consider obtaining legal advice before discussing the facts.
Costco cases have their own recurring issues: membership identification, receipt checks, items underneath the cart, surveillance, loss-prevention questioning, and prior transaction history.
In this video, I discuss Costco shoplifting cases from the perspective of a criminal defense attorney who handles retail-theft allegations in Orange County.
Watch on YouTubeFinding unpaid merchandise can establish that something was not paid for. That does not automatically answer the separate question of criminal intent.
That distinction is especially important at Costco because of the way merchandise moves through large carts, checkout lanes, and the receipt check at the exit.
Large or bulky merchandise may be placed underneath the shopping cart and overlooked during checkout.
One person may believe another family member already scanned or paid for an item.
A skipped item, scanning problem, distraction, or misunderstanding may create an unpaid item without necessarily proving an intent to steal.
Children sometimes place merchandise into a cart without a parent realizing it is there.
Unlike many retailers, Costco commonly checks receipts as customers leave the store.
That means a missed item may be discovered at or near the exit. Costco can then compare the merchandise with the receipt and may involve loss prevention.
But the location of an unpaid item does not tell the entire story. Where was the merchandise? Was it visible? Was it underneath the cart? Was it mixed with paid merchandise? What happened at checkout? What did surveillance show?
Costco can potentially combine several sources of information when investigating a suspected theft.
Because customers generally shop using a membership, Costco may be able to associate transactions and visits with a particular account.
Video may show where merchandise was placed, what happened during checkout, and what occurred before the stop.
Transaction records can be compared against merchandise and may also become relevant if Costco reviews previous shopping trips.
Loss-prevention employees may document what they personally observed before, during, and after checkout.
What a customer says in the back office can become a significant part of Costco's internal report and the later police investigation.
In some cases Costco may examine earlier transactions or available footage to determine whether it believes the incident was isolated.
The loss-prevention report is one version of what happened. I want to compare that version against the underlying evidence.
Potentially. Costco's membership and transaction systems can make prior purchases easier to associate with a particular membership account than at many ordinary retailers.
After a suspected incident, Costco may examine previous transactions and available evidence. That can matter if loss prevention believes the current incident was not isolated.
Showing that a membership account was used on a previous date does not, standing alone, establish that merchandise was stolen during that visit.
If Costco alleges multiple incidents, each allegation should be examined for the evidence actually connecting the accused person, merchandise, transaction, and alleged conduct.
An investigation involving several alleged shopping trips can be more serious than a single missed item. Prosecutors may evaluate the combined allegations under the law applicable to the case.
Do not treat several allegations as one vague accusation. Determine exactly which shopping trips Costco claims are involved.
What receipt, surveillance, transaction data, or witness evidence supports each individual incident?
Prior presence at Costco or use of a membership account should not be confused with proof of theft on every alleged date.
Depending on what happens at the store, police may investigate, issue a citation, make an arrest, or receive the matter for later investigation. A prosecuting agency ultimately determines whether criminal charges are filed.
Costco may cancel or restrict a membership after a shoplifting accusation. Costco may also direct a person not to return to its property.
The membership issue is separate from whether prosecutors ultimately prove a criminal charge. A dismissal or favorable criminal resolution does not necessarily force Costco to restore a membership.
If you receive a written trespass notice or instruction not to return, take it seriously. Do not create a new problem by returning in violation of an existing restriction.
1. The Criminal Case
What can the prosecution prove?
2. Costco's Private Decision
Will Costco continue or restore the membership?
A defense strategy should not confuse the two.
After a retail-theft accusation, a person may receive a separate demand seeking money based on the incident.
One of the most important things to understand is that the civil demand and the criminal prosecution are not the same case. Paying a demand does not automatically make a criminal charge disappear, and not paying it does not itself decide whether the criminal accusation is true.
Before assuming that payment will resolve the criminal case—or ignoring the letter entirely—understand what the demand is, who sent it, and how it relates to your particular situation.
Read My Civil Demand Letter GuideMany Costco clients who contact my office have little or no criminal history. Their biggest concern is often what a theft allegation could mean for their career, license, reputation, or future.
A criminal case can raise concerns for people working in positions involving money, trust, security, or professional responsibility.
Nurses, accountants, healthcare professionals, and other licensed workers may have concerns beyond the immediate court case.
The long-term consequences of a conviction may matter more to some clients than the immediate sentence.
Not every Costco case is an accidental missed scan. Sometimes the surveillance, statements, concealment evidence, or other facts create substantial risk.
In those cases, good representation means evaluating resolution options rather than pretending weaknesses exist when they do not.
Depending on the case and what is legally available, mitigation can include counseling or education, community service, restitution, documented positive history, and other steps designed to improve the client's position.
Challenge the Evidence
When intent, identification, surveillance, statements, or other proof is genuinely disputed.
Build the Best Resolution
When the evidence is strong and the client's priority is protecting the record and limiting consequences.
The right path depends on the actual evidence—not a one-size-fits-all formula.
Retail theft cases are easy to summarize badly: “There was an unpaid item, therefore the person stole it.”
My job is to go underneath that summary. I review surveillance, transaction records, receipts, witness statements, police reports, statements attributed to the client, and the timeline to determine what the evidence actually proves.
Sometimes that exposes a genuine defense. Sometimes it tells us the smarter strategy is mitigation and negotiation. Either way, the decision should come after reviewing the evidence.
— Mark K.
— Lila K.
— Nam B.
An unpaid item and an intentional theft are not necessarily the same thing. The circumstances matter: where the item was located, what happened at checkout, whether it was visible, what surveillance shows, what you said, and whether other evidence supports an innocent mistake or intentional conduct.
Bottom-of-cart merchandise is a recurring fact pattern. The important issue is not simply where the item was located, but what the complete evidence shows about why it was not paid for.
That can be relevant to intent. The defense should examine who was shopping, who handled checkout, what each person reasonably understood, and whether the surrounding evidence supports that explanation.
Surveillance can be important evidence. It can also provide context that is missing from a written loss-prevention report. The defense should review the video itself when it is available rather than relying solely on someone else's description of it.
Costco may be able to associate transactions with a membership account and may review earlier activity during an investigation. If earlier incidents are alleged, the evidence supporting each incident should be examined individually.
Multiple alleged incidents can significantly change the scope of a case, and prosecutors may evaluate them together depending on the facts and applicable law. That makes it especially important to identify the evidence supporting each alleged incident.
Be cautious about making detailed statements while detained and under stress. Statements may be documented and later provided to police or prosecutors. Consider obtaining legal advice before discussing the allegations in detail.
Police may speak with loss prevention, review available evidence, request information from the person detained, and determine what investigative steps to take. Depending on the circumstances, the matter may involve a citation, arrest, further investigation, or later filing review.
Costco may cancel or restrict membership after an alleged theft. That is a private membership issue separate from the criminal case, and a favorable criminal result does not necessarily restore membership automatically.
Take a written or clearly communicated trespass restriction seriously. Returning despite an applicable restriction can create an additional problem separate from the original allegation.
A civil demand is a separate monetary demand associated with the alleged retail-theft incident. It should not be confused with the criminal case. Payment does not automatically cause a criminal case to disappear.
Do not assume either that immediate payment will resolve the criminal matter or that the letter should simply be ignored. The appropriate response depends on the particular demand, the criminal case, and your circumstances.
Some theft cases are dismissed, reduced, diverted, or otherwise resolved favorably, while others proceed through litigation or negotiation. What is realistically available depends on the evidence, history, current law, prosecutor, court, and individual facts.
Depending on what exists, useful evidence can include surveillance and checkout video, receipts, transaction records, loss-prevention reports, witness statements, police reports, body-worn camera footage, prior transactions Costco relies upon, and statements attributed to the client.
Before deciding what to do with the case, find out what the surveillance, receipts, loss-prevention report, statements, and other evidence actually show.
I represent clients accused of Costco shoplifting and other retail-theft offenses throughout Orange County.
Every case is different. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
