Since 1993
Good News for Petit Theft First Offenders
By: John Guidry II
I want to talk to you first offenders about shoplifting and petit theft, just spread a bit of good cheer about this situation. And, that is, we can get a first offense dismissed.
Now, i’m putting a little asterisk near this because a first offense shoplifting / petit theft is subject to what I call the Petit Theft Nightmare. And, I address that in another video.

But, let’s put that aside and tell you the good news.
The good news is, you have lots of options to get thing dismissed. And, its a petit theft, you want this thing dismissed.
Here’s how we do it.
Normally, we do what we call “diversion”. Every county calls diversion something different. It could be called Pretrial Diversion or the County Diversion Program. Whether you call it PTD or CDP–makes no difference.
I’ll just tell you what it is: its a program, you pay a couple hundred dollars to get into the program.
Your attorney gets you into the program.
And, you do some community service, you do the anti-theft or impulse control class.
That’s an 8 hour class telling you “not to steal”, they’ll do that on a Saturday, 9 to 5, or sometimes they’ll break that 8 hour class up during the week on a Tuesday and Thursday night.
However you do the class, however you do the community service–the case goes away.
And, its a beautiful thing.
There are some situations where maybe you pissed off loss prevention and the store–your Kohl’s, your Target, your walmarts–they can veto diversion.
And therefore, you can’t get dismissal. Right? Wrong.
I had a client, just for example, I had a client–she was a jerk to loss prevention.
But, they were a real jerk to her.
She had to go to the bathroom when they grabbed her, you know when they grabber her by the arm.
“Mam, you gotta come back in the room with me”.
First of all, they never should have touched her, but they always do.
She went back in the room “Look I have to go to the bathroom”. They would not let her use the restroom for hours and hours and she urinated all over herself.
She just had a lot in her. And it was super embarrassing.
Right?
What made it worse is loss prevention called in their buddies to sort of enhance the embarrassment so that they could laugh about it too.
These are not nice people all the time.
And so my client, rightfully so, was not nice back to them. So we get to court and they’re like “hell no, you’re not getting diversion, your gal was not very nice.”
Then after explaining why, they still wouldn’t grant us diversion. Well, we pissed off a lot of people because we used “Option #2”.
Option #2 is “I don’t care that the prosecutor won’t let you in, and I don’t care that Walmart or Kohl’s doesn’t want you to get dismissal” — we can still work this, its called Pretrial Intervention.
And pretrial intervention is simple program and its designed to go straight to the judge and bypass everybody else’s objection.
But the added cost is you’ve got to do some drug treatment. Usually, 8 to 12 weeks of outpatient treatment. No big deal.
Still, it leads to dismissal.
So, if you’re accused of shoplifting in Central Florida, and by that I mean Orange County, Seminole County, Osceola County, Brevard County, Lake County, or Volusia County, we defend petit thefts in all of these courthouses and we’d be happy to help. Just give our office a call, thanks!
About the Author, John Guidry II
John Guidry II is a seasoned criminal defense attorney and founder of the Law Firm of John P. Guidry II, P.A., located in downtown Orlando next to the Orange County Courthouse, where he has practiced for over 30 years. With more than three decades of experience defending clients throughout Central Florida since 1993, Guidry has successfully defended thousands of cases in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Brevard, Lake, and Volusia counties. He has built a reputation for his strategic approach to criminal defense, focusing on pretrial motions and case dismissals rather than jury trials.
Guidry earned both his Juris Doctorate and Master of Business Administration from St. Louis University in 1993. He is a member of the Florida Bar and the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. His practice encompasses the full spectrum of Florida state criminal charges, with a particular emphasis on achieving favorable outcomes through thorough pretrial preparation and motion practice.
Beyond the courtroom, Guidry is a prolific legal educator who has authored over 400 articles on criminal defense topics. He shares his legal expertise through his popular YouTube channel, Instagram, and TikTok accounts, where he has built a substantial following of people eager to learn about the law. His educational content breaks down complex legal concepts into accessible information for the general public.
When not practicing law, Guidry enjoys tennis and pickleball, and loves to travel. Drawing from his background as a former recording studio owner and music video producer in the Orlando area, he brings a creative perspective to his legal practice and continues to apply his passion for video production to his educational content.