The theft of an egg roll will result in court dates and potential criminal charges for a second-year English major at the University of Maine.
Wesley Pelletier ate an egg roll while browsing the school’s independently run Maine Marketplace, then failed to mention it to cashiers when checking out his other purchases.
Another worker, who had seen Pelletier eat the egg roll, told his superiors, who chose to file criminal charges.
“It’s something you see all the time,” Pelletier explained, “people putting water bottles in their purses, taking little things; getting away with it. It’s just a common occurrence. So yeah, taking an egg roll seemed insignificant.”
Petty thefts have racked up significant losses for the Marketplace, which claims to have lost more than $60,000 last year due to shoplifting.
Pelletier said he understands that what he did was wrong, and hopes to rectify the problem without tying up the court system.
He said he has written a letter of apology and offered to pay the full price of the egg roll he stole.
He also expressed his willingness to pay a fine or provide community service, in lieu of criminal charges, which would appear on his permanent record and possibly hurt his career.
The school has so far rejected his terms.
“An 18-year-old knows the difference between right and wrong, and shouldn’t be coddled,” Pelletier said. “But the way they’re handling this just seems mean-spirited.”
Pelletier pointed out that the school handles drug and alcohol abuse differently, allowing students to atone for their actions through alternative means, with police generally involved.
UMaine has adopted a zero-tolerance policy for theft and makes no distinction in procedure based on the value of the stolen property.
Robert Dana, vice-president (student affairs) at UMaine, said allowing small crimes to go unpunished would make larger crimes seem less serious.
“Whether it’s an egg roll or it’s $5,000, it doesn’t matter. We can’t differentiate,” he said. “We can’t have separate rules for smaller items.”
Pelletier will plead his case before a judge Feb. 12.
What if this had happened at Carleton?
According to Ed Kane, assistant vice-president (university services), zero tolerance is not Carleton’s theft policy: “We treat each instance on a case-by-case basis,” he said.
Canadian law also generally accepts a defence based on the principle that “the law does not concern itself with trifles.”
The concept is often used in Canada to defend petty thefts and other minor crimes. The same principle, though still existing in the United States, is rarely used under these circumstances, being mainly reserved for civil disputes.