Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Michigan

My 12 year old son got caught shoplifting.. he was at a local Sears at the mall, he has NEVER been in any kind of trouble before.. he was with a 14 yr old friend who convinced him to put some things in his pocket.. when I got to Sears they (Sears security person) had my son in a room.. they asked if he had done this before insisting that he looked familiar, I had to sign a few papers, one stating that he was banned from the mall and surroundings for LIFE (can they do that?) his friend had about $400.00 worth of stolen goods on him.. my son $81.62! They informed me that I will be getting court papers, and I can expect to pay 3x up to 10x the amount, fines, he will be on probation for a year with some kind of anti theft school and random drug test which can cost about $1000.00?? My son is a good kid that made a horrible decision!! He has a 3.6 GPA and a bunch of certificates from school stating this.. Is there anything that I would be able to do to avoid all this? Will this be permanently on his record? Will both boys be in court at the same time? Can't Sears drop the charges once they place them?
Thank you for your time!!

Asked on 6/29/10, 6:41 am

Timothy Klisz Klisz Law Office, PLLC

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It is important to obtain counsel right away. I handle dozens of these each year. Visit www.kliszlaw.com to discuss. Tim Klisz

Answered on 6/29/10, 10:10 am

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