Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: 490.5 a and b

UCLA might or might not report the incident to the police. Once it is reported, the decision whether to file charges will belong to the police investigators, or more specifically prosecutors, not UCLA. That said, even if UCLA reports the incident but say that they are satisfied with the payment and do not really desire to press charges, this might have some weight with the police/prosecutors and their decision whether to file or not.

You need to find out what UCLA did. Did they report? Do they want to press charges?

If UCLA reported, your best option is to hire a lawyer right away to nip this thing in the bud before any charges are filed. Because of the low value of the items stolen and the fact that this is your first offense, you should qualify for what is called a diversion, meaning, for example, taking some classes in exchange for having the whole thing dismissed. It is much better to make this kind of arrangement before charges are filed. Once charges are filed, even if later completely dismissed, some record of them will linger on in your background checks.

You need to do all you can do to make sure nothing theft related, even a petty theft infraction, is on your record. You are not going to go jail but having a theft in any way on your record will complicate your efforts to find a job.

Hope this helps,

Jacek W. Lentz, Esq.

310.273.1361

www.lentzlawfirm.com