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 ...
There you go thinking again.
Ownership of the bag was obvious based upon the contents. Most of it was probably checks anyway.
This guy should be in hot water.
If it was just cash, with no identifiers, that’s a different story, but I would still seek to find the owner.
My luck, there would be drugs with the $$$ and I would get busted! 😥
“My dad taught me, “if it’s not yours, don’t pick it up” “
Very good advice if you travel to another country. In most of the world, it’s called the ‘Turkey Drop’ (I think) and you WILL LIKELY regret picking it up, as you’ll be attacked as the perp.
In the US, it’s not too common, yet, but will become common as we transition to a Third World country (thanks to Biden’s Ukraine and Immigration policies), and in Japan, as far as I know if you do pick up a guy’s wallet it’s always to return it to him, at whatever effort or cost to you. But the rest of the world - watch out!
Cash is a bearer instrument.
Rarely does a government receive tax payments in cash. You don’t necessarily walk into the clerks office with $7000 on you to pay your school taxes (the ones due at this time of year) People do pay them in cash, but, by and large people pay them by check to have the receipt for payment should the imbeciles who work in Gruberment offices screw-up and you have the proof to avoid penalties for non-timely payment.
So the question becomes, what disciplinary measures have been taken against the incompetent town employee who “lost” $5000 in cash.
“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.”
Filed under: Reasons to Teach Kids the Golden Rule.
I do a lot of business with the orange big box store. Their mistake netted me over $2500. It was clear it was a mistake on their part. $2500 of flooring that I am standing on that they say was returned for refund. I could have kept it and they would have never known.
I dont need that kind of karma following me around!
Hey, it’s tax dollars. So, in reality, it does belong to him.
And yet the entire resources of the Federal government were not able to determine who brought cocaine into the White House.
I find wallets occasionally in Tokyo and turn them in. Last year or so I found a wallet with $2,000 in Yen. There were ID cards, etc. too. I took it to the cop box and they found the owner. A few weeks ago I found a single, naked, crumpled ¥10,000 bill in the road. I kept that one. I find lots of stuff and turn it in if it can be reasonably identified. I usually don’t want or need the junk anyway and I feel I get the good karma back eventually.
This reminds me of the time I found a hat full of money and then got chased by a dude with a guitar!
Define “belongs”
If the guy had found some drug dealer’s money, he would have probably ended up dead.
Wrong is wrong even if it *feels* right to you.
He has only himself to blame.
Somebody left a shoe in the middle of the road.
For 3 days it lay there on the yellow line as I drove past annoyed.
One morning I saw it still there so I stopped and threw it into the ditch.
The next day CSI came knocking on my door about a murder and fingerprints found on a victim’s shoe.
Never get out of the boat.
Never get out of the boat.
“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.”
Yeah, it’s really not a controversial issue. Alabama Title 13:
Section 13A-8-7
Theft of lost property in the first degree.
(a) The theft of lost property which exceeds two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) in value constitutes theft of lost property in the first degree.
(b) Theft of lost property in the first degree is a Class B felony.
Finder’s keepers isn’t really the law. And rightfully so.
I always used to fantasize about finding a bag of money and facing the challenge of laundering it without getting caught.
There are four big hurdles I cam think of:
1) Squaring it with my conscience by convincing myself that it belonged to criminals and it would be impossible to return it to whomever the criminals exploited.
2) Assuming I accomplished 1, Making sure I could take possession of it without being caught on camera, observed by witnesses or followed by any tracking device.
3) Assuming 1 and 2, Figuring out how to spend it or launder it without triggering any red flags, such as serial numbers, unique denominations, suspiciously sudden wealth, et…
4) Assuming all of the above, Resisting the temptation to share my secret with anyone.
With today’s technology, drones, etc., I think it’s impossible.
I’ve often wondered why there is only ONE shoe I always see.
Sounds like you’ve adopted the Japanese lifestyle - NICE!.
In the case of the 10k note, my thought would be to turn it into the police and let them deal with it as a phone call to them within 24 hours asking about a 10k note would likely identify the person who lost it. But even so, that’s not to judge you, just Monday morning quarterbacking.
In the US, it’s so dangerous that I’d likely walk past a $100 bill, rather than try picking it up, regardless of where I am.
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