Queens Theft Crime Lawyer
Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you the reality of theft charges in Queens - not the sanitized version defense websites present, not the "just plead guilty and move on" fiction, but the actual truth about what happens when you catch a larceny case in Queens County.
You probably found this page because something happened. Maybe you got arrested at a store in Jamaica or Flushing. Maybe you received a desk appearance ticket and you are trying to figure out how worried you should be. Maybe your kid made a terrible decision and now you are scrambling to understand what comes next. Whatever brought you here, you need to know something that most defense websites will not tell you.
Queens has a hidden trap that transforms minor theft charges into serious felonies. And unless you understand how it works, you could walk into that trap with your eyes wide open.
The Aggregation Trap Nobody Warned You About
Heres the thing. Most people think shoplifting in New York works like this: you steal something worth less than $1,000, you get charged with petit larceny, you pay a fine or do community service, and life goes on. That used to be mostly true. Its not true anymore.
In the FY25 budget, New York gave prosecutors a new weapon. They can now aggregate - meaning combine - multiple theft incidents across an 18-month period, even from different stores, to reach the $1,000 threshold that turns a misdemeanor into a felony. Think about what that means. That $50 makeup you took from CVS six months ago? The $150 in electronics from Target last month? The $75 worth of merchandise from the incident your getting charged with now? A prosecutor can add them all together.
Suddenly your not facing petit larceny anymore. Your facing Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree. Thats a Class E felony. Up to four years in state prison. A permanent felony record. And everything that comes with it.
Let that sink in.
DA Melinda Katz's office has made it clear they are serious about retail theft prosecution. Operation Self Checkout - a December 2024 investigation - resulted in 13 defendants facing a 780-count indictment for $2.2 million in combined thefts. The ring leaders face 25 years. But heres what matters to you: the legal mechanism they used to build that massive case is the exact same mechanism they can use against individual defendants with smaller amounts.
What Queens Criminal Court Actually Looks Like
OK so lets talk about what happens when you actually show up at Queens Criminal Court on Queens Boulevard. Because the reality is nothing like what people imagine.
Most theft cases get processed like products on an assembly line. You have prosecutors handling dozens of cases per day. Public defenders with caseloads exceeding 100 active files. Judges under pressure to move their dockets. In this enviroment, individual attention is a luxury that the system doesnt provide.
Your public defender - if you go that route - will meet you for maybe 15 minutes before your court date. Theyll review your file quickly. Theyll tell you what the plea offer is. And theyll ask you what you want to do. Thats not because theyre bad lawyers. Its because the system is designed for volume, not for fighting cases.
The prosecutor, on the other hand, has your complete file. They know about prior incidents. They know about store surveillance. They know about the trespass notices in the Merchants Business Improvement Program database. They have information you dont even know exists.
Heres were people get confused. Queens has a 52% case dismissal rate - one of the highest in New York City. But that statistic hides something important. The cases that get dismissed? They get dismissed because prosecutors know they cant prove them. The cases that dont get dismissed? Those face the full weight of the system, including aggregation charges when applicable.
Your either getting dismissed or your getting destroyed. There isnt much middle ground.
When Petit Larceny Becomes Grand Larceny
CRITICAL WARNING: The value of what you stole in THIS incident does not determine your charge. The combined value of what prosecutors can prove you took over 18 months determines your charge.
This is the inversion that nobody explains. Most defendants focus on the current incident. They think: I only took $80 worth of stuff, so whats the big deal? But the prosecutor is looking at a different picture entirely.
And heres were it gets really dangerous. You might not even know about all the incidents that could be aggregated against you. Remember that time security stopped you at a store but let you go with a warning? That incident is probly documented somewhere. Remember when you returned merchandise without a receipt and it seemed slightly uncomfortable? If the store flagged that transaction as suspicious, it could be in their system. The aggregation law doesnt require that you were previously arrested or convicted. It just requires that prosecutors can prove the prior incidents happened.
So your walking into court thinking you have a $200 problem. The prosecutor is looking at documentation showing $1,400 in combined incidents across multiple stores over the past year. Now your not facing a misdemeanor anymore. Your facing a felony. And you had no idea until the charges were read.
Under New York Penal Law Section 155.30, Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree occurs when stolen property exceeds $1,000 in value. The aggregation law means that threshold can be met by combining incidents. And once you cross into felony territory, the consequences multiply exponetially.
A misdemeanor conviction might mean up to a year in jail - in practice, often probation or community service for first offenders. A Class E felony conviction means up to four years in state prison. A Class D felony - Grand Larceny Third Degree for values over $3,000 - means up to seven years. A Class C felony means up to 15 years.
Todd Spodek has seen this pattern play out with clients who had no idea their "minor" shoplifting charge had been upgraded based on prior incidents they didnt even remember. By the time they understood what was happening, they were facing years of prison exposure instead of the fine they expected.
And its not just about prison time. A felony conviction means:
- You cant pass a background check for most apartments in New York City
- Most employers wont hire you for any position requiring trust
- Professional licenses can be revoked or denied
- Immigration consequences can be catestrophic
- Firearm rights are permanantly lost
- Voting rights are suspended during incarseration
See the problem?
The Merchants Program Pipeline
Heres the part nobody talks about. Queens DA Melinda Katz implemented something called the Merchants Business Improvement Program starting in Jamaica in 2021 and expanding borough-wide by 2023. Its presented as a community safety initiative. But for defendants, its something else entirely.
Heres how it works. Participating businesses - and there are alot of them now - have a direct line to the DA's office. When store security catches someone shoplifting, they dont just call the police. They document the incident in a database that prosecutors can access. They issue trespass notices. They collect surveillance footage.
That security guard who let you walk out with a "warning"? That wasnt mercy. That was evidence collection. Your incident is now documented in a system designed to build cases through aggregation.
Think about that. The store might not have called the cops. You might have thought you got away with it. But six months later, when you get caught for something else, that "warning" incident becomes part of the aggregated charges against you.
The Merchants Program also creates another trap. Once you receive a trespass notice from a participating business, returning to that store - even just to shop legimatly - can result in criminal trespass charges. Now your facing multiple charges instead of one. And prosecutors love to use those additional charges as leverage during plea negotiations.
At Spodek Law Group, we've seen clients blindsided by charges stemming from incidents they thought were resolved months or years earlier. The system has a long memory. And that memory is designed to work against you.
The Immigration Nightmare Nobody Mentions
URGENT WARNING FOR NON-CITIZENS: How you resolve a theft charge can determine whether you stay in this country or get deported. Do not accept any plea without understanding the immigration consequences.
This deserves its own section because the stakes are different for non-citizens. And Queens, with its incredibly diverse population, has one of the highest concentrations of immigrants of any county in America.
Heres the trap. Prosecutors often offer an ACD - Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal - for petit larceny cases. On its face, this looks like a great deal. Stay out of trouble for six months, and the case gets dismissed. No conviction on your record. Sounds perfect, right?
Not if your an immigrant.
For immigration purposes, an ACD can constitute an "admission of guilt" to a crime involving moral turpitude. It dosent matter that the case was eventually dismissed. USCIS can still use that admission against you during green card applications, citizenship applications, or removal proceedings.
And it gets worse. Grand larceny - the felony that aggregation creates - often qualifies as an "aggravated felony" under immigration law. An aggravated felony makes you deportable. Period. It eliminates most forms of relief. It can result in mandatory detention by ICE.
Weve seen clients who came to this country as children, built entire lives here, had US citizen children - and faced deportation because nobody explained the immigration consequences of a theft plea when they accepted it.
If your not a US citizen and you catch a theft case in Queens, you need a defense attorney who understands both criminal law AND immigration law. The consequences of getting this wrong are permanant.
The intersection of theft charges and immigration status creates a maze that most criminal defense attorneys simply dont understand. They might get you a great criminal outcome - case dismissed, no conviction - without realizing they just torpedoed your immigration case in the process. The way you phrase a statement to the court matters. The specific charge you plead to matters. Even the timing of a dismissal can matter for immigration purposes.
At Spodek Law Group, we coordinate with immigration attorneys on every case involving a non-citizen defendant. This isnt optional. This is basic due diligence that somehow most firms skip.
What Happens in the First 48 Hours
The first 48 hours after an arrest or summons set the trajectory of your entire case. Heres what most people do wrong.
First mistake: talking to the police beyond basic identification information. Anything you say - anything - can be used to establish intent, identify prior incidents, or undermine potential defenses. People think they can explain their way out. They cant. You have the right to remain silent. Use it.
Second mistake: assuming a desk appearance ticket means the case isnt serious. A DAT just means the police didnt feel the need to hold you in custody. It says nothing about how seriously prosecutors will pursue charges. DAT cases can absolutley result in felony indictments once prosecutors review the evidence and discover aggregation opprotunities.
Third mistake: waiting to get a lawyer. Evidence needs to be preserved. Witnesses need to be contacted before memories fade. Surveillance footage - which can sometimes help your defense - often gets recorded over within days or weeks. Every hour that passes is potential evidence lost.
Fourth mistake: talking about the case on social media, to friends, or to family members. All of those conversations can be subpoenaed. Family members can be compelled to testify. A text message saying "I cant beleive I got caught" might seem harmless to you. To a prosecutor, its an admission of guilt.
The truth is, prosecutors have been building their case since before you knew you were a defendant. Store security started documenting incidents. The Merchants Program started collecting data. Prior "warnings" got logged. By the time you get charged, they have a head start measured in weeks or months.
Notice the pattern? The system gives them time to prepare while you scramble to catch up.
Fifth mistake - and this one is suprisingly common - hiring the cheapest lawyer you can find or going with whoever shows up first. Look, I understand the impulse. Legal fees are expensive. Your stressed. You just want this problem to go away as quickly as possible. But a theft case in Queens isnt a parking ticket. The aggregation law has changed the stakes completly. A lawyer who dosent understand Queens-specific prosecution patterns, who dosent know about the Merchants Program, who isnt prepared to fight aggregation charges - that lawyer is going to cost you alot more in the long run then they save you upfront.
This isnt about hiring the most expensive attorney in the city. Its about hiring someone who actualy understands what your facing and has the resources to fight it properly.
Fighting Back When the System Is Stacked
So what do you actually do? How do you fight a system thats designed to process you through as efficiently as possible?
First, you need someone who understands how Queens Criminal Court actually operates. Not how criminal defense works in theory. How it works in practice, in that specific courtroom, with those specific prosecutors and judges. Spodek Law Group has handled hundreds of theft cases in Queens. We know the players. We know the tendencies. We know which prosecutors are open to negotiation and which ones want to make examples.
Second, you need someone who will actually investigate your case. That means obtaining surveillance footage before it gets deleted. That means interviewing witnesses. That means understanding exactly what evidence the prosecution has - and what evidence they dont have. Most public defenders dont have time for this. Most private attorneys dont bother.
Third, you need someone who understands aggregation and how to fight it. Can we challenge whether prior incidents were actually you? Can we challenge the valuation of merchandise? Can we challenge the connection between separate incidents? Can we negotiate a resolution before aggregation charges are filed?
Fourth - and this is critical for non-citizens - you need someone who understands immigration consequences. Not vaguely. Specifically. What plea options exist that avoid aggravated felony classification? What documentation do we need to protect your immigration status? What happens if the case goes to trial versus accepting a plea?
Todd Spodek has built Spodek Law Group around this kind of comprehensive defense. Not just showing up and negotiating a plea. Actually fighting cases. Actually protecting clients from consequences they dont even know exist until its too late.
Look - nobodys claiming this is easy. The system is designed to produce convictions. The aggregation law exists specifically to upgrade charges. The Merchants Program exists specifically to document incidents for prosecution. Prosecutors have resources and information that defendants dont.
But the system can be fought. Charges can be reduced. Cases can be dismissed. Immigration consequences can be avoided. Felonies can be prevented.
It starts with understanding what your actually facing. And it requires acting before the window closes.
The Real Cost of a Theft Conviction
People focus on jail time because thats the scariest immediate consequence. But for most people charged with theft in Queens, the real damage happens after the criminal case is over.
Think about where you live right now. If you rent - and most Queens residents rent - your lease probably requires you to pass a background check for renewal. A felony conviction means you fail that check. Landlords in New York City have dozens of applicants for every apartment. Why would they take someone with a grand larceny conviction when they have clean applicants waiting?
So now your not just dealing with a criminal case. Your dealing with potential homelessness. Or at minimum, your looking at moving to areas with less competitive rental markets - which often means longer commutes, worse schools for your kids, and less access to services.
Employment is the same story. Any job that involves money - retail, banking, restaurants, healthcare - requires a background check. Grand larceny is a crime of dishonesty. Its basicly impossible to get hired for positions of trust with that on your record. Even jobs that dont require background checks often run them anyway. And once you check that felony box on an application, your resume goes straight to the bottom of the pile.
Sound familiar? This is how the system traps people in cycles of poverty and reoffending. You cant get housing without income. You cant get income without employment. You cant get employment with a felony. And when your desperate, the decisions that seemed irrational before start making terrible sense.
The cost of a conviction isnt just the sentence the judge reads. Its everything that comes after. And those costs compound over years and decades.
The Next Move Is Yours
Your reading this because something happened. Maybe you got arrested. Maybe you got a summons. Maybe someone you love is in trouble. Whatever the specifics, you need to understand one thing clearly.
The prosecutor has already started working your case. The aggregation analysis is already happening. The Merchants Program database is already being searched. Every day that passes is a day closer to charges being filed or upgraded.
You have a choice. You can wait and hope it goes away. You can assume a public defender will have time to really fight for you. You can tell yourself petit larceny isnt that serious.
Or you can call someone who understands exactly what your facing and exactly how to fight it.
That window is closing. The clock started when the store security started documenting. The clock accelerated when the arrest happened. The clock is running right now.
Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. We answer 24/7. Consultations are confidential. And the sooner we start, the more options you have.
The system is stacked against you. But you dont have to face it alone.
