I think you only have to worry about hiding stolen goods until the "heat" dies down. I can't say for sure though, since I tend to just steal gold or skill books I need, both of which prevent me from getting caught, since I use the skill book right away, and use the gold to buy the items I need.
You could also just buy the items you want and steal the gold back, once you have enough gold to do so.
Has any of you actually managed to pull off a melee stealth build in combat?
I haven't used stealth too much in combat, besides hiding with chameleon skin or abusing Ranger's snipe back before it got nerfed. That's a good idea for a challenge though! Maybe I'll try seeing how far I can push the melee stealth idea.
Off the top of my head, I would probably go Undead just to abuse Play Dead as a way to reset aggro. Especially if you're solo, you could teleport away from line of sight, Play Dead to leave combat, then go into stealth and initiate combat once more.
