I was involved in a crime of petty theft in a different city than where I live and had nothing to do with school. Anyhow, 4 months after this scenario, two detectives arrived at my school and called me into the office and 2 other people involved in the case. They questioned us 3 and we all had the same story. Now, I did something I regret and I spoke about the situation to the detectives since my other friends did as well and if I didn’t, it would have been obvious that I was lying. The questions I have about the story/situation is at the end.
PLEASE ONLY ANSWER IF YOU’RE POSITIVE ABOUT THE ANSWERS. I DON’T WANT TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN WHOS WRONG OR NOT. IF YOU ONLY KNOW A FEW OF THE QUESTIONS, ONLY ANSWER THOSE, PLEASE! Thank you!
This all happened in California.
Story:
I was the second of the three people called into the office regarding this case, out of a total of four people involved in this case. I was in the room for the longest;
the other two were out much quicker. Majority of my answers consisted of “I think” or “I don’t remember clearly” or “According to my memory, [insert], but I’m not
positive.” They asked me questions like “Were you the one who took the item?” to which I replied “I don’t remember if it was me or my friend that was with me who
took it, but I had the item last when I was headed to the car.” Then they asked if I was the one who sold the item, to which I replied, “No, after I was given the
item, I handed it to another friend to deal with the transaction.” Right after, they stated that the item was listed on my Craigslist account, to which I replied “Yes,
but I gave my e-mail and password out to a few friends too incase if they had to do anything on it as well” and they were laughing in disbelief. They continued on
to ask that if they were to get a search warrant for my Craigslist account, would they find me replying to any ads? I said “Yes, of course you will. But, just ‘cause I
replied to ads doesn’t mean there was a crime involved. I could have been just looking for a seller. Those conversations shouldn’t mean anything,” or something
along those lines and I also stated that majority of my sales are from gaming accounts and currency I sold or whenever my friends want to sell something I sell it for
them and take a little percentage. Then they went onto state that they saw four things on the surveillance: The car, me driving around the area before the crime
was committed, that I entered a place during the crime event, and that after the crime was committed, I opened the door to the drivers seat and drove away. My
issue with this is, when I first entered the room for interrogation, they described my car according to what the first person of the three of us they questioned said, which that
person unintentionally described the car wrong. So, they asked me if this was the car I was driving and I told them no. Another issue, I was NOT driving my car, my friend, the
person first questioned, was driving my car the entire time, and after the scenario, I opened the door to the passenger seat NOT the drivers like they state they saw on the
surveillance, and the location they state I entered, I did not. Along with this, my car was parked in a dark residential road under a willow tree where there was NO surveillance.
After they got the most basic details wrong when they claimed to have seen it in surveillance, it got me thinking that they were lying about surveillance and that they infact do
not have any surveillance, they are just relying on what we have to say. I admitted to being present at the crime however, I dodged majority of their questions by stating “I’m
not sure” or “I don’t remember clearly” or “I’m pretty sure” and other non-solid verbal identifications. Now that I’ve gotten through three of the four people involved in this case,
you may be wondering, what happened to the fourth person who was never questioned or mentioned in this story? The fourth person was arrested at the scene. He lied about
being arrested to us when it first happened and stated that he ran away and had his parents pick him up a few blocks away. However, I later find out that he was lying about
not being arrested by doing a background check and found that he was arrested on that day, but surprisingly….not for petty theft; but for DUI. He does NOT have a license
either…coincidence? The answer you’re thinking? His fathers a judge and we believe his father had a play in lessening the charges. Now, something I didn’t mention is that, in the
beginning the detective said something along the lines that if I tell the truth, he can maybe even get me off free. Throughout the interrogation, I stated that instantly after the
event, I wanted to return the item, but my friend who was driving the car and my other friend in the backseat were panicking due to my fourth friend being caught and they
wouldn’t allow any of us to go back, so they left the scene and that even now I am willing to return the money I received from my friend selling the item. Now, I know the
detective was probably lying about being able to get me off for free that’s why I didn’t fully state all the evidence positively and gave some un-assurance for room to breathe
incase if things don’t go according to plan. At the end, I asked the detective if he can help me out and he stated that it’s not in his power because he has to file the papers to
some city official or something, but he stated that he will speak to whoever receiving the files over the phone and tell them that they’ve been honest and came forward and try
to see what he can do.
Now, a few questions I’m wondering are….
1) Can what I say be used against me in court if this was recorded without my knowledge?
2) Did I admit too much or will this conversation be deemed invalid due to too many non-solid answers?
3) Will they even bother fully going through with the case if what I assume is true and they don’t have surveillance, only our words?
4) Is there a possibility they recorded this without telling me? And if so, is it legal to use in court against me if I wasn’t told about the recording? (I was not under arrest during the interrogation, they were just questioning me and no, they didn’t read me any Miranda rights or any of that since that’s when you are being arrested.)
5) If they come back for more questioning, although I’m a minor, do I have a right to not speak to them or not go to their office? Or can they arrest me?
6) Why did they come to school to speak to me when this didn’t concern school? They already knew who we were, could it of been the fourth persons father trying to get the detectives after us?
7) Can or will they get a search warrant for my Craigslist account?
