How to Use petty theft in a Sentence

petty theft

noun
  • Velez was arrested and charged with one count of petty theft.
    — Janelle Griffith, NBC News, 26 Nov. 2024
  • The charges were later reduced to petty theft.
    — Dan Pompei, New York Times, 2 Dec. 2025
  • The best way to avoid being a victim of petty theft is to not look like a victim.
    — Christopher Elliott, USA TODAY, 16 Aug. 2024
  • This Daisy ran away from her two dads, acquiring a rap sheet for petty theft along the way.
    — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 6 May 2026
  • An increase in petty theft weighed on retail store gross profit margins.
    — Joseph Walker, WSJ, 12 Oct. 2023
  • Most cases are shoplifting, assault or petty theft.
    — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 9 June 2026
  • Dean, the bag boy at Doose's — never forget their sweet first kiss that involved petty theft.
    — Stephanie Sengwe, PEOPLE, 5 Oct. 2025
  • About half of the petty theft took place on the train, and less than a quarter of them happen on train station platforms.
    — Kathleen Wong, USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2023
  • Law enforcement now has more avenues to tackle shoplifting and petty theft, too.
    — Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2019
  • She was also suspected of petty theft and bail was set at $5,000.
    — Nollyanne Delacruz, The Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2024
  • The woman was arrested and charged with one count of petty theft, according to police.
    — Max Hauptman, USA TODAY, 26 Nov. 2024
  • The misdemeanor charge is for petty theft, pertaining to the removal of a campaign sign.
    — Elizabeth Marie Himchak, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Nov. 2025
  • Current penalties for stealing the car part include petty theft, which can be charged as a misdemeanor, or grand theft, which can be charged as a felony.
    — Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2023
  • Her previous charges range from petty theft to battery causing serious injury.
    — Elizabeth Pritchett, Fox News, 17 Feb. 2025
  • An anonymous caller identified the suspect as Velez, who was arrested and charged with petty theft.
    — Muri Assunção, New York Daily News, 3 Dec. 2024
  • In many cases, petty theft is classified as a misdemeanor, and people may be released on bail or bond while awaiting trial.
    — Dan Perry, Newsweek, 26 Nov. 2024
  • Prosecutors filed a misdemeanor petty theft charge against Park.
    — Gabriel San Románstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2023
  • Parasitical is a good way to describe shoplifting and other acts of petty theft and destruction.
    — Charles Fain Lehman, Washington Post, 7 Nov. 2025
  • And again Jenkins’ office charged him under Prop 36, this time with two felony counts of petty theft, among other charges.
    — Sophia Bollag, San Francisco Chronicle, 10 Apr. 2025
  • Police could only find a criminal record of a petty theft conviction against her in 2013.
    — Noah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2024
  • In a Jamaica summer, two estranged cousins converge and, after a petty theft, are cursed by a local shopkeeper.
    — John Hopewell, Variety, 5 Aug. 2024
  • The women, aged 31, 50, and 26, were charged with felony grand theft, and two of them were charged with petty theft with two priors, court records show.
    — Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 16 Mar. 2026
  • Now the victims are often low-level criminals, mostly in poor townships, suspected of petty theft or drug dealing.
    — Gwen McClure, Foreign Affairs, 22 Aug. 2013
  • Ortega pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor counts of petty theft in 2023.
    — Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2025
  • Not doing so could be considered petty theft, resulting in a misdemeanor and fines of up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail.
    — Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 25 June 2024
  • Even high-profile hacks of casinos and large companies do not translate to criminals trying to breach residential smart locks for petty theft.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 14 Dec. 2025
  • Spikes in crime on the subway have put the system in the national spotlight as offenses ranging from petty theft to stabbings and murders have been publicized in the past year.
    — Jack Birle, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 21 Jan. 2025
  • In 2020, he was charged with misdemeanor battery and petty theft in Los Angeles.
    — Jack Brook, Chicago Tribune, 3 June 2026
  • In 2020, he was charged with misdemeanor battery and petty theft in Los Angeles.
    — Juan A. Lozano, Chicago Tribune, 17 Feb. 2026
  • The measure means tougher penalties for repeat thieves, allowing for felony charges for people with two prior petty theft convictions, even if that third theft is just swiping shampoo.
    — Teri Figueroa, The Mercury News, 19 Dec. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'petty theft.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: