A legal battle is brewing in Virginia after a 14-year-old was wrongfully accused of stealing True Religion jeans.
Charles Smith said his daughter, Angelea, was accused of stealing last Tuesday. He said they went shopping at Potomac Mills Mall.
Smith said they had purchased jeans and a shirt from another store before entering True Religion.
While looking at more jeans, Angelea looked into her bag to remember what color she had bought at the previous store, according to her dad. Smith said that’s when employees started approaching them.
“I guess the people that were walking around us were the staff. There were two women in there, and they were monitoring us,” he said. “I guess they’ve seen her when she did that to check to make sure that we don’t buy the same pants.”
Nearly 10 officers later stopped Smith and his daughter in the mall.
Atlanta Black Star spoke with a True Religion manager about the situation.
“The very premise of the video is misleading,” he said. “True Religion never called the police; that never happened.”
Prince William County police confirmed to Atlanta Black Star that officers responded to a shoplifting call at the mall.
Smith began recording when seven officers approached him and his daughter. He was outraged by the number of officers who were deployed for a young girl and the allegation of such a minor crime.
“They did all this; why do we need eight cops here, like, was two not enough?” Smith said.
Smith told Atlanta Black Star that the officers and employees watched store security footage before confronting Angelea.
“You guys looked at the video, you monitored the video, you called the police, then the police looked at the video. Okay, so everyone confirmed she didn’t steal anything. What is the purpose of you stopping us?”
According to the officers in the video, one of the True Religion employees reported the alleged incident, even though Smith and his daughter had just walked into the store.
“We didn’t pay for something that we didn’t already own?” Smith asked. The officers stared blankly at him as he demanded to know which employee had accused his daughter of stealing.
The store manager told the Atlanta Black Star that an employee is seeking legal action against Smith.
“Three laws were broken in the process of this posting,” the store manager said, referring to the video. He did not specify which laws were broken.
“So, they’re suing the father, not [True Religion]?” ABS asked.
“Yes,” he said. “There’s no basis for us to be held liable. We never called the police; we never spoke to the teenager; there’s no case.”
Atlanta Black Star spoke with Smith about the pending litigation.
“Good luck,” Smith laughed.
The father said he blames the store, mall, and police for humiliating his daughter. He added that employees had spoken to her when she first entered the store.
“I want to understand why there are nine cops here. They’re just staring at us and going through our bags, harassing us,” he said. “We could have been oblivious. We could have had a nice, good day, a nice vacation.”
Smith said he plans to also seek legal action.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to police to confirm whether the store had called, but has not heard back.
