People v. Meyers CA1/4

BACKGROUND

I. Factual History

A Best Buy manager, Michael Skinner, observed surveillance footage showing Meyers in the “open box” area of the store on July 20, 2023. “Open box” items are previous display items or items that have been returned and are being sold at a discount. Meyers was taking accessories and packing material for a $70 microwave in the open box area and putting them behind a different box. Best Buy had an Arcam home theater receiver in the open box area that day; the receiver’s normal retail value was $4,400, but it was discounted to $3,520.99. When the Arcam receiver was on display, it had no security tags attached. Surveillance footage showed the out-of-box Arcam receiver in

2 Meyers’s shopping cart on July 20, underneath a box for a different, $300 receiver. Another Best Buy manager, Scott Bolotaolo, was at the store on July 20. Later in the July 20 surveillance footage, near closing time, the boxes for the microwave and for the $300 receiver were in Meyers’s shopping cart, but the Arcam receiver was not there. Meyers attempted to purchase the microwave box, but was not able to due to a problem with the credit card he was using. He returned the microwave…