Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

First, the only thing you can do about it, is to bring the incident to the attention of the district attorney. D.A.'s file charges and not private citizens. Private citizens can bring civil lawsuits but here since you ended up with the jacket after all was said and done you don't have any damages to claim. So what would you be suing for? Your aggravation? Since I am sure the jacket is valued at under $400.00, it would be a small claims law suit and there would be no end result the court could possibly award you.

In regards to a criminal charge; let's say for a minute you found the tape and it shows the woman picking up the jacket and putting it on the stroller. You take it to the DA and tell them your story and they believe you. As you have described the facts this is going to fall under California Penal Code, sections 484, 485, and 486. It is a petty theft. CPC 484 defines larceny and it provides that it is a crime to take or carry away the personal property of another. CPC 486 defines and provides for the degree or classification of the theft. If the subject property has a value exceeding four hundred dollars ($400.00) it will be grand theft. Anything under that is considered petty theft. I will assume the jacket has a value of less than $400.00 and therefore it will be classified as a petty theft. Finally if it can shown the women knew the property was lost and she did not make the proper inquiries to ascertain who owned it, then CPC 485 provides that is a crime when someone finds lost property under circumstances which give them knowledge of or means of inquiry as to the true owner and who appropriates such property to his or her own use.

Now, believe or not from the facts you provided this women can make a strong argument that she was going to take the jacket to the security office when she was done shopping, or she was only making sure the jacket was safe until the owners came back or any number of bull S#&t answers that are absolutely ridiculous. However, there is no way to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was not going to do these things even though she argued with you and put the coat in the trash can. I doubt that any district attorney's office would file charges in this matter. This kind of things happens all the time and the best thing to do is use it as a learning tool and move on. You can bet this women will do something again in the future and eventually she will get caught. At some time they always do. Maybe it will involve facts that get her in some real trouble. However, this is a waste of your time.

Good luck,

Brian McGinity