San Antonio Theft Lawyer: Shoplifting and Theft Charges in Bexar County

She is two steps past the registers at a store off Loop 410 when a man in a gray polo stops her and asks about the bag. He walks her to a small room behind the returns counter, where someone slides a form across the desk and asks her to sign it. The police are on the way. She has never been arrested. By evening she has been booked in Bexar County on a theft charge, and a letter written on the store's behalf, asking her for money, may follow. What follows is what the State of Texas must prove in a San Antonio theft case, and what a charge like hers can cost.

Put plainly, theft in Texas is one offense in many sizes. Penal Code § 31.03 makes it a crime to take property without the owner's consent, intending to deprive the owner of it, and the grade turns mostly on the dollar value. Under $100 is a fine-only Class C misdemeanor; $2,500 or more is a felony. Prior theft convictions can raise even a small case, and several thefts can be added into one larger one. And because the law treats theft as a crime of dishonesty, a San Antonio theft lawyer treats even a shoplifting charge as more than a small fine.

What the State has to prove in a Texas theft case

Under § 31.03(a), the State must prove that the accused unlawfully appropriated property with intent to deprive the owner of it. Each of those words is defined in § 31.01, and each can decide a case. To appropriate includes exercising control over property. Putting something in a cart is not a crime. The question in most shoplifting cases is intent, and intent is usually inferred from conduct: where the item went, whether the person passed the last register, what the video shows, what was said in the back room. To deprive means to withhold the property permanently, or long enough that the owner loses most of its value. A person who walks out distracted, a toddler in the cart, has done something; whether she meant to deprive anyone is a separate question, and the burden on it is the State's.

The taking must be without the owner's effective consent, and the statute also reaches a person who receives property knowing someone else stole it, even one who never set foot in the store.

Value decides the grade. Under § 31.08, it is the fair market value at the time and place of the offense, or, if that cannot be determined, the cost of replacing the property. Section 31.09 adds the rule that turns small cases into large ones: amounts taken under one scheme or continuing course of conduct, from one source or several, may be added together and charged as a single offense graded by the total. Twenty dollars a shift for a year is not a stack of Class C tickets. It can be charged as a felony.

Texas also has a separate organized retail theft statute, § 31.16, which the Legislature rewrote in 2025. A case charged under that section is graded differently.

Punishment for theft in Texas

• Class C misdemeanor: Under $100; fine to $500 (§ 12.23)
• Class B misdemeanor: $100 to under $750; jail to 180 days; fine to $2,000 (§ 12.22)
• Class A misdemeanor: $750 to under $2,500; jail to 1 year; fine to $4,000 (§ 12.21)
• State jail felony: $2,500 to under $30,000; 180 days to 2 years state jail; fine to $10,000 (§ 12.35)
• Third-degree felony: $30,000 to under $150,000; 2 to 10 years; fine to $10,000 (§ 12.34)
• Second-degree felony: $150,000 to under $300,000; 2 to 20 years; fine to $10,000 (§ 12.33)
• First-degree felony: $300,000 or more; 5 to 99 years or life; fine to $10,000 (§ 12.32)

A theft under $100 becomes a Class B misdemeanor if the person has any prior theft conviction. A theft under $2,500 becomes a state jail felony after two or more prior theft convictions of any grade, which means a candy bar can be charged as a felony. Theft from another person's body or of a firearm is a state jail felony at any value. And under § 31.03(f), the grade rises one level if the owner was an elderly individual or a nonprofit, or if the person set off a fire exit alarm, disabled a store's theft detector, or used a shielding device to get past one.

Consequences outside the courtroom

A theft conviction, even a misdemeanor, can be used to attack a witness's credibility, within limits set by the Texas Rules of Evidence, so someone who later testifies may hear it read to the jury. Employers reading a background check draw their own conclusions.

For a person with no prior record, a misdemeanor theft can be sealed on any of three routes. Deferred adjudication ending in dismissal brings a nondisclosure order under Government Code § 411.072. A conviction with probation allows a petition once the probation is completed, under § 411.073. A conviction without probation allows a petition under § 411.0735, two years after the sentence is completed for a Class B or Class A. Anyone who is not a United States citizen needs advice about immigration consequences before any plea.

A civil track runs alongside the criminal one. Chapter 134 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the Theft Liability Act, makes a person who commits theft liable for the damages plus up to $1,000 more, and awards attorney's fees to whoever prevails. A retailer's demand letter may cite that law. The letter is not a court order, and paying it does not resolve the criminal charge.

How a theft case moves in Bexar County

An arrest in San Antonio usually leads to the Magistrate's Office on Comal Street, where bond and release conditions are set. Class B and Class A theft cases are prosecuted by the Bexar County District Attorney's Office in the Bexar County Courts at Law. Felony theft goes first to a grand jury; if it returns an indictment, the case is assigned to a district court. Then come settings, discovery, and negotiation, on a timeline discussed separately.

What this office looks at in a theft case

First, intent: the full video rather than the clip, and the store's records of what was scanned and paid.

Second, value. The price tag and fair market value are not always the same number, and a few dollars can change the grade. If incidents were aggregated, were they one scheme?

Third, the back room. Once officers arrive, the rules on detention, search, and questioning apply, and Code of Criminal Procedure art. 38.23 bars evidence obtained in violation of the law. What was said or signed, and when, matters; whether a statement can be kept out is its own subject.

Fourth, history. A prior theft conviction that raises the grade deserves a close reading.

Questions people ask about theft in Texas

Is shoplifting a felony in Texas?

Usually not. Shoplifting is charged as theft under Penal Code § 31.03, graded by value, and property worth less than $2,500 is a misdemeanor unless something else raises it. Two or more prior theft convictions make a theft under $2,500 a state jail felony. A case charged under the organized retail theft statute is graded differently.

Do I have to pay the civil demand letter from the store?

A demand letter is a request, not a judgment. Texas's Theft Liability Act lets a person harmed by theft sue for actual damages plus up to $1,000, with attorney's fees to whoever wins, which can be the accused. Paying does not end the criminal case, so decide with the charge in view.

Can a theft charge be sealed from my record?

In many first misdemeanor cases, yes. Deferred adjudication ending in dismissal brings a nondisclosure order under Government Code § 411.072. A conviction with probation can be sealed by petition once probation is completed (§ 411.073). A Class B or Class A conviction without probation qualifies by petition two years after the sentence ends (§ 411.0735).

Back to the room behind the returns counter

The woman in the room off Loop 410 was stopped by a man who was not a police officer and handed a form that was the store's paper, not the court's. Her case now turns on the video, the value, and whether anyone can prove what she meant. Those are questions for the case itself, not for a letter from the store. The office phone is (210) 201-3096, and messages can be sent through the contact form.

By Christian O. Vega, Attorney at Law

The Law Office of Christian Vega · 130 E Travis St, Suite 425, San Antonio, Texas 78205

Texas State Bar No. 24121180

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