In what sounds like one of David Letterman's Stupid Human Tricks, a California couple confessed on Dr. Phil that for the last 7 years they had been shoplifting toys and selling them on eBay. The couple, Matthew Eaton, 34, and his 26-year-old wife Laura, told a national TV audience they had made more than $1 million stealing from stores in several states and reselling the stolen merchandize online, a crime known as e-fencing. When the couple confessed on camera, an incredulous Dr. Phil said, "I'm no lawyer or cop, but isn't that a federal crime?"
A San Diego federal grand jury certainly thought so, recently indicting the two. Investigators raiding the couple's San Marcos home found more than 500 boxes of toys and other items.
The Eatons told Dr. Phil that they often used their three toddlers as decoys during shoplifting excursions. "Sometimes we just kind of go in together as a nice little family to make it seem like we're normal people, and we don't look like the kind of people that steal," Matthew said.
The Eatons said they were telling their story to help them stop shoplifting. Dr. Phil warned the Eatons to stop, but four months later they were still at it. At a court hearing last week the Eatons pled no guilty. They are being held pending bail, and their children have been placed with relatives.
Stealing something from a store is shoplifting. When the property stolen is valued at $400 or less, it is considered petty theft in California. When objects stolen are valued over $400, shoplifting is considered grand theft which carries more stringent penalties. To find out more about the crime of shoplifting and your legal rights, visit the website of experienced Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Stephen Rodriguez.
