Posted on 09/01/2023 6:29:09 AM PDT by lowbridge
A man who felt like he had won the lottery after finding a bag containing nearly $5,000 in a car park has been charged with larceny.
Robert Withington, from Trumbull, Connecticut, said he found the bag of cash on the ground outside a local bank in May and decided to keep it, thinking it was his lucky day.
“Everything was in the moment and it was like I hit the lottery. That was it.”
According to Trumbull Police, the 56-year-old, who turned himself into police last week, believed he had no obligation to return the bag to its rightful owner.
“This is like a crock of baloney. I found money and now it’s probably going to cost me money,” said Withington, who told Hearst Connecticut Media he did not notice anything identifiable in the bag.
“If I knew I was wrong in the first place, I would have given it right back. I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.”
Police said the bag, which was full of town tax receipt funds, was clearly marked with the bank’s insignia and contained “numerous documents” that identified the contents belonged to the town of Trumbull.
Officers launched an investigation when an employee of the Town’s Tax Collector Office was unable to locate the bank deposit bag while making a delivery to the bank on Tuesday, May 30.
Police combed through surveillance videos, obtained search warrants, and conducted “numerous” interviews, before learning the bag had simply been “inadvertently dropped” on the ground outside the bank, where Withington picked it up.
Three months on, Withington was charged on Friday with third-degree larceny, punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $5000 in fines.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Was that wrong? Should I have not done that? I tell you I gotta plead ignorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon, you know, cause I’ve worked in a lot of offices and I tell you people do that all the time.
It’s always theft if you find something that you know belongs to someone else and keep it.
My dad taught me, “if it’s not yours, don’t pick it up” Simple. It belongs to someone, just not this turd.
Both people who claim to own the bag are crooks. LOL
meanwhile, it’s likely the perp who held up the bank got released on cashless bail and the charges dropped. heh
I remember this distinctly from business law in college. Found property does NOT belong to the person who found it, until a rigorous effort is made by the authorities to find the owner. If that search fails, the finder gets to keep it.
And yes, it will now cost him money. Attorneys usually charge you
The punishment should be five years of litter collection duty.
That will cure the guy of any desire to “pick up stuff” for a while.
;-)
Not buying that excuse. 😉
“Hello, Trumbull Tax Office? Yes, I found this bank deposit bag on the ground with a bunch of tax receipts in it, so I thought you might like it back. Cash? No, there was no cash inside, just a bunch of receipts with your name on them...”
“the bag, which was full of town tax receipt funds”
This is the real reason he must be punished as harshly as possible, to pay for the mistakes of a lazy government employee.
I found a bank bag of cash and receipts including maybe a hundred credit card numbers with expiration dates and 3 digit codes laying on the road in Springfield, Mo. It had a few thousand dollars in it.
I rummaged through it until I found something that identified a possible business and I called them. Turned out it was some door to door meat sales place rom Iowa and their salesman had accidentally left it on top of his car.
I met him in a parking lot at a convenience store and he almost reluctantly gave me a thank you. It was kind of strange.
I don’t think this guy should be charged with a crime but sounds like he is an inconsiderate individual.
Do the best right thing always and sleep well at night.
LOL...of course, that graphic!
That said-if I found buried gold, I would keep it.
If I found a bag of cash OUTSIDE A LOCAL BANK I would assume it belonged to a bank or a Brinks truck offloading cash.
If I found it on the side of a rural road...I know it belongs to someone else, but...who? How do you find out? Put a sign out near where you found it, saying call this number and describe what you lost? Or just give it to the police?
I suppose just handing it to the police could work. Criminals would probably not call the police, but a regular person with cash in a bag might.
I feel like if I gave it to the police, it might disappear into someone’s pocket.
I don’t know. Never given this type of thing even a second of thought.
“Turning himself in to police” and getting charged sounds as if he spent it already. Oops…. Should have held onto it until everything blew over or didn’t hear anything for a year or so. Or he could have turned it in as just found and that probably would have been the end of it.
Finders keepers. If there’s no one around to claim it, and it’s on public property, why would it be wrong to pick it up?
“Found property does NOT belong to the person who found it, until a rigorous effort is made by the authorities to find the owner.”
Imagine if we applied that logic to the plot of “Lord of the Rings”.... it would make Sauron into the hero, just trying to get his rightful property back from thieving Frodo and his gang of crooks.
So I’m favoring the natural law of “finders keepers, losers weepers” I think.
That solution (don’t pick it up) has value, too. But it would bother me to just leave it there, given that I know there are people in cars behind me that might not be so...trustworthy.
The more I think about it, the only thing is to hand it over to the authorities if there were no identifying characteristics.
Advertising you have it and supplying your phone might put you in contact with people you might not want to be in contact with.
Excellent solution.
“The punishment should be five years of litter collection duty.
That will cure the guy of any desire to “pick up stuff” for a while.”
Chances are that he had his phone with him when he picked up the bag. So, easy to investigate, find the relative handful of people who were in that place, at that time, then compare to video and license plate cameras and start to narrow down the people. Then call-in the handful of people of left, and question them - the one that sweats is likely the perp.
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