They believed I had taken a vest because of the style of jacket I was wearing I think. It has a two-collar style, with inside and outside zippers if that makes sense, so it would have looked like I had a vest on beneath a regular jacket. I don't know that's the story for sure, but I AM being accused of taking a vest from them and that's my working theory.

An employee apparently called the cops but I was gone before they arrived, because I had finished my shopping and left without any clue that they were coming.

I went about my day normally, and was called this morning by my girlfriend, who informed me the store had posted my Facebook profile for all the world to see and claimed I had stolen a 140-dollar item from them. They had all sorts of comments that were threatening and derogatory, and I even awoke to a message about it from someone I didn't even know.

I reached out on Facebook to the poster of the comment, who was not forthcoming, but did delete the post. But I've been pretty well smeared. Even people from work saw it. I'm a very easily identifiable person in my community. Everyone knows me.

I want to be VERY clear: I did not take the item. I don't even know how I could have. Nor would I have, because it didn't even fit.

What do I even do? Do I call the cops and plead my case? Do I leave it alone until they come knocking, because they won't have any evidence? My reputation has been damaged severely by this, and I've never had to even defend myself in court because I keep my nose clean. I just don't really know how to proceed.