I am writing out of frustration regarding an event that happened on 12/29/2010. My 17 year old daughter was shopping at Deerbrook Mall at Claire’s Boutique when she was physically stopped outside the store by an unidentified employee of UF Security (contracted by Claire’s) and was falsely accused of shoplifting. My daughter was made to go back inside the store where she was found not to have any merchandise but was still hauled away by the mall police and issued a citation for “theft under $50”. I now have to go to court to defend my daughter’s rights. She was with her mother at the time of the incident who was made to leave the store while my daughter was searched.

The thing that gets me is that this was a busy shopping day, being that it was just after Christmas, there were many people in the store. The "employee" obviously made a mistake, or even giving benefit of the doubt, maybe she thought she saw something. The standard practice of a store accusing someone is to maintain constant surveillance on the shoplifter in question so that they can't "ditch" the stolen merchandise. This helps the store from avoiding any embarrassing mishaps. If they don't have any merchandise on them the practice is to let the suspect go. This didn't happen. Now I have to hire an attorney to defend my daughter against an incompetent, poorly trained and bitter employee who can't admit that they might have made a mistake. The worst part about it is that I reached Claires regarding the matter and their stance was that they are going to support their loss prevention person and proceed with action against my daughter, stating that although they "don't want to give her a record, it is a good way to learn a lesson". A lesson of what?!?!? That they have a record of doing this? That they hire incompetent people to "profile" potential shoplifters?

I hope that everyone that reads this and has had a negative experience in Claire's or any other retail store thinks twice about shopping there. Especially if they just have that sinking feeling that someone is watching them unjustly. I, personally, will never step foot in a Claire's Boutique or any of their sister stores, nor will I ever go back to Deerbrook Mall, in Humble Texas simply because of the treatment there.