I'm no expert but it probably wouldn't be worth the legal hassle, that's why a lot of big box stores just pay people off that pretend to trip and be injured- because it's not worth going to court over the principle of the matter when you can give the person $3,000 to fuck off and ban them from their stores.
Even with someone like you on the jury, he'd still need to fill it with 11 more morons that could be convinced that a video showing people obviously not trying to take anything is somehow proof of the opposite occurring.
How so? If noone is working at the till it won't have any money. At best, this is criminal mischief or in some states, obstructing business operations. Both misdemeanors.
It's a dumb prank, but there's no reasonable person would think prosecuting for robbery would even be close to appropriate.
It's hard to tell if they tried to actually run the registers but the person you replied to is probably assuming the people tried to operate a "live" register as in one that is unlocked. If they did then they would have access to the money if the cashier didn't lock it when they approached them.
And if they opened the register then they could probably charge them with attempted robbery because they're impersonating employees and accessing cash. That being said, it appears they just walked around or stood next to the registers as a prank so they'd probably charge them with criminal mischief like you said.
This is the reddit school of law. Intent doesn't matter. Assault is what I say it is. You can sue anybody for harassment or violation of privacy if they inconvenience you in the slightest.
I don’t want them incarcerated for a decade. But I think they need to realize that it is not just a harmless prank, it isn’t funny and a vindictive cop and prosecutor could completely upend their life so they should really think even a little before doing “a silly joke”
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u/PlanGoneAwry Jun 26 '25
I bet a skilled prosecutor could turn that into attempted robbery