NY Socialite Beata Boman's Starbucks Video Defense in Scarf Theft

By Cynthia Hsu, Esq. on June 20, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

New York fashion designer and socialite Beata Boman allegedly stole a scarf - and a "Starbucks defense" is going to exonerate her, according to her attorney.

Boman is accused of shoplifting a fur scarf valued at around $11,000 from Richards of Greenwich in New York, reports the New York Post.

Boman says she accidentally stuffed the scarf into her purse after an emotional phone call with a friend who was about to get brain surgery, the New York Post reports. Add a Starbucks defense to that brain surgery defense.

Boman walked into a Starbucks after she left the store. She claims that while she was there, she looked into her purse and realized that she had accidentally lifted the scarf, according to the New York Post. Distressed, she even left the Starbucks to return to the store without even buying any coffee.

She went into a Starbucks - and didn't buy any coffee! Now this is real evidence that Boman was in shock.

Boman's lawyer, Mark Sherman, says he plans to subpoena the Starbucks store's footage. "We believe the Starbucks video will reveal an 'OMG' moment," he said to the New York Post.

The Starbucks OMG defense could help Boman get out of her legal woes. After all, most crimes, like theft or larceny, require an element of criminal intent, meaning that Boman would have needed to intend to deprive the store of their property.

Without that requisite intent, she isn't guilty of a crime.

So, if there really was an "OMG" moment captured on tape at the Starbucks, Boman's hefty shoplifting charge could go away.

Beata Boman and her shoplifted scarf's "Starbucks defense" - if it's proven valid - may very well show that she was actually going to return the items, and in turn, make her not guilty of an intentional theft.

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