Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

thats actually a pretty good question. It may not create full probable cause, but it may generate what's called "reasonable articulable suspicion". This is not enough to arrest you, but it is enough to detain you briefly and ask you questions. If, upon detaining you, security finds stolen merchandise, that will give them probable cause to arrest you. You can check out my website below for a full description of reasonable articulable suspicion. One more thing: without doing the research, I can't confirm that store security need to follow the same requirements as state officers when stopping you.