Texas Theft Citation Under $100: Penalties and Deferred Disposition

A Texas theft citation for property worth under $100 is a Class C misdemeanor, the same tier as a traffic ticket, punishable by a fine of up to $500 and no jail time.¹² It is still a criminal charge, though, and if you simply pay the fine you accept a conviction that stays on your record. In most cases the smarter move is to ask the court for deferred disposition, complete the conditions, and later have the record expunged.

What the Charge Actually Is

Texas Penal Code Section 31.03 grades theft by the market value of the property at the time of the offense. Anything under $100 falls into Class C, which is a fine-only offense with a statutory ceiling of $500.¹² Cases at this level are handled in municipal courts run by cities or in justice of the peace courts run by counties, not in the county criminal courts that hear jailable offenses.

The court and deadline for your response are printed on the citation itself. That deadline matters, and the sections below on ignoring the ticket and on deferred disposition both depend on getting to the court before it passes.

When a Prior Theft Changes the Picture

The under-$100 rule assumes a clean record. Under Section 31.03(e)(2)(B), a single prior conviction for any grade of theft bumps the charge up to a Class B misdemeanor, which carries up to 180 days in county jail and a $2,000 fine. Two or more prior theft convictions push the same conduct to a state jail felony under Section 31.03(e)(4)(D), regardless of value, with a range of 180 days to two years in state jail.¹

The enhancement applies no matter how old the earlier convictions are or how small those thefts were. If you have any theft history at all, you are not dealing with a citation in the ordinary sense, and you should speak with a criminal defense attorney before entering a plea.

What You’ll Actually Pay

The $500 cap is the fine only. On top of it, Texas imposes mandatory court costs on every conviction for a non-traffic Class C misdemeanor: a $62 state consolidated court cost and a $14 local consolidated court cost, for a minimum of $76.³ Those costs apply whether you plead guilty, plead no contest, are found guilty at trial, or take deferred disposition.

A judge can also order restitution to the property owner. In a deferred disposition on a Class C, restitution is capped at the amount of the fine assessed.⁴

How to Respond to the Citation

You have three plea options.

Guilty. You accept the charge. The court enters a conviction and assesses the fine and costs.
No contest (nolo contendere). Same effect as guilty for criminal purposes, but the plea cannot be used against you as an admission of fault if the store later sues you civilly.
Not guilty. The court sets a pretrial conference with the prosecutor. If no agreement is reached, the case goes to trial.

Most Texas courts let you respond in person at the clerk’s window, by mail, or through an online portal using the citation number on the ticket. If you mail your response, use certified mail with a return receipt so you can prove the court received it before the deadline. For online submissions, save the confirmation number.

Do not walk in, plead guilty, and pay the fine at the window without first asking about deferred disposition. That is the mistake that turns a dismissable citation into a permanent conviction.

Ask for Deferred Disposition

Article 45.051 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lets a judge place you on deferred disposition instead of entering a conviction. You plead guilty or no contest, and the judge sets a deferral period with conditions. Complete every condition on time and the court dismisses the charge. Miss any of them and the court enters a conviction and sentences you as though deferred disposition had never been offered.⁴

Conditions vary by court and by case. The statute allows a judge to require any combination of:

A fine and court costs, with the option to request a waiver, community service alternative, or payment plan if you cannot afford them.
Restitution to the property owner, capped at the fine amount.
A psychosocial assessment, substance misuse evaluation, or professional counseling.
Community service or other reasonable requirements the judge sets.

Deferred disposition is not automatic. Some courts raise it on their own, but many will not unless you or your attorney specifically ask. The judge has full discretion to grant or deny it. This is the single most valuable request you can make at this stage.

What Happens If You Ignore the Citation

The court can issue an arrest warrant for failure to appear, and a routine traffic stop can turn into being taken into custody on that warrant. Failure to appear on a Class C misdemeanor is itself a separate Class C misdemeanor, so the fines and costs stack.

Texas also runs a Failure to Appear program under Transportation Code Chapter 706. Participating courts can report the unresolved citation to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which then places a hold on your driver’s license. You cannot renew the license until you clear the citation with the reporting court, which usually means paying the original fine, additional fees, and a program reimbursement fee. The hold applies even though the underlying offense had nothing to do with driving.

Clearing Your Record Afterward

What you can do later depends on how the case ended.

Expunction After Dismissal

If the case was dismissed through deferred disposition, you can expunge the arrest record entirely. Under Article 55.01 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, you must wait at least 180 days from the date of arrest before filing for expunction of a Class C misdemeanor.⁵ Once granted, the arrest is erased from your record, and you are not legally required to disclose it on job applications or elsewhere.

Nondisclosure After Conviction

If you pleaded guilty and paid the fine without deferred disposition, you have a conviction and expunction is not available. You may still qualify for an order of nondisclosure under Section 411.0735 of the Government Code, which seals the record from most private background check companies.⁶

The eligibility rules are strict. You must have completed your entire sentence, including all fines, costs, and restitution. You must essentially be a first-time offender, with no prior convictions or deferred adjudication for anything other than fine-only traffic offenses. And you cannot have received community supervision or deferred adjudication for the offense you want sealed. For a fine-only misdemeanor conviction there is no waiting period; you can petition as soon as your sentence is complete.⁶ A nondisclosure order stops most private employers and landlords from seeing the record, but law enforcement and certain government licensing bodies can still access it.

How the Conviction Shows Up on Background Checks

A Class C theft conviction is reportable on criminal background checks. Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, criminal convictions can be reported indefinitely; the commonly cited seven-year cap applies only to arrests that did not result in a conviction.⁷ Theft convictions in particular tend to disqualify candidates for jobs involving cash handling, inventory access, or any position of trust. If your case ended in dismissal and was later expunged, it should not appear at all. If you paid the fine without deferred disposition, it can follow you.

Civil Demand Letters from Retailers

You may receive a letter from a retailer or its collection firm demanding a few hundred dollars in civil damages. This is separate from the criminal case. The Texas Theft Liability Act, Chapter 134 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, lets a property owner recover actual damages plus up to $1,000 in additional damages, court costs, and attorney’s fees; if a minor committed the theft, a parent or guardian can be liable for actual damages up to $5,000.⁸

The letter is legally authorized, but paying it or not paying it has no effect on your citation. Whether to pay is a judgment call worth discussing with an attorney, because ignoring the letter can lead to a collections action or a civil suit.

If You Are Not a U.S. Citizen

Theft is generally treated as a crime involving moral turpitude under federal immigration law, which can trigger inadmissibility or deportation. A “petty offense exception” under INA Section 212(a)(2)(A)(ii)(II) may protect a non-citizen when three conditions are all met: only one conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude, a maximum possible sentence of no more than one year, and an actual sentence of no more than six months.⁹ Because a Class C misdemeanor in Texas carries no jail time at all, the exception should apply in most cases where this is the only such conviction.

Immigration consequences are far more severe than a $500 fine, and immigration law is less forgiving than criminal law. If you are not a citizen, talk to an immigration attorney before entering any plea. A deferred disposition that ends in dismissal and expunction gives you much stronger protection than a conviction that technically qualifies for the petty offense exception.

1
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 31.03 – Theft
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.23 – Class C Misdemeanor
3
Texas Justice Court Training Center. Fines, Fees, and Costs – Fourth Edition
4
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 45.051
5
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 55.01
6
Texas Courts. An Overview of Orders of Nondisclosure
7
Texas State Law Library. Background Checks – Restrictions After a Criminal Conviction
8
Texas Constitution and Statutes. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 134 – Theft Liability Act
9
U.S. Department of State. 9 FAM 302.3 – Ineligibility Based on Criminal Activity