If a security guard walked you into a back office this week, or a deputy handed you paperwork with the word “theft” on it, you’re probably embarrassed, scared, and thinking: this is not who I am. My theft clients are teachers, nurses, students, retirees who never expected to see the inside of a courtroom.
I’m Rory Safir. Before I opened my own practice, I was an Assistant Public Defender in the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in Tampa, and I’ve defended hundreds of criminal cases since. I wrote a free guide, Theft Charges in Florida, because the same few surprises catch people in the first weeks of a case. Here are three of them.
Three things from the guide
1. The felony line is $750, and the State must prove the value
Florida grades most theft by dollar value under section 812.014 of the Florida Statutes. Under $100 and $100 to under $750 are misdemeanors. At $750, the charge becomes grand theft, a felony. A phone or a laptop crosses that line. But value is an element the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, and the measure is fair market value at the time and place of the theft. Not the sticker price. Not the replacement cost. In R.C.R. v. State, 916 So. 2d 49 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005), a criminal mischief conviction built on inflated repair costs was reversed, and the same valuation logic applies to theft. The guide walks through how a value fight can turn a felony into a misdemeanor.
2. Paying the store’s letter does not end the criminal case
Days or weeks after a shoplifting incident, a letter often arrives from a law firm representing the store, demanding money. It’s not a bluff. Section 772.11 of the Florida Statutes allows civil theft claims seeking triple damages. But the civil demand and the criminal prosecution run on separate tracks. Paying the letter does not make the charge go away, and not paying does not make the criminal case worse. Get advice before you respond to either one.
3. You get one sealing or expunction in a lifetime
If your case ends the right way, Florida lets you seal or expunge the record. But court-ordered sealing or expunction is available once in a lifetime. That rule should change how you approach a first theft charge, because theft is a crime of dishonesty, and it reads that way on every background check you’ll ever face. The outcome you fight for now decides whether that one shot stays available.
Get the whole guide free
The guide also covers the items that are grand theft at any value, the prior-record trap that can turn a pack of batteries into a felony charge, diversion programs that can end a first case in dismissal, and Florida’s newer automatic sealing law. One email unlocks the entire Safir Guides library at thesafirlawyer.com/free-guides. If you’d rather read on the web, my full coverage lives in the theft defense section.
And if your court date is close, skip the reading. Call or text me at (727) 761-4318 and tell me what happened. Every case is different, and no lawyer can promise an outcome, but you’ll get a straight answer about where your case stands and what I’d do next.
You’re better Safir than sorry.
About the author
Rory Safir is a St. Petersburg attorney who handles injury claims and criminal defense across the Tampa Bay area. He is one of a handful of ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientists in Florida and a former Assistant Public Defender in Tampa, and he brings that same evidence-driven approach to fighting for injured clients.