Did you not listen? The police reviewed security camera footage at the bank, which is how they discovered the identity of the person who found the bag. You do realize you live in a world filled with cameras recording all the time. So not telling anyone doesn't mean no one will ever know you took it. Drug dealers are putting Air Tags in their drug and money shipments. So if you find a bag of cash on the road and you decide to take it home, you might want to consider that a drug cartel might know exactly where there money went, and will be paying you a visit in the middle of the night. And even if you find the air tag once you get the money home, its too late. You have probably already been pinged, so you better have their money if they come calling.
Not comparable. No one should be defending this man's actions. What if the $5k was the 1 year savings of someone struggling to buy a car? Or the 1 month paycheck of a single mom/dad? Civil asset forfeiture is wrong and I would never defend it, however, it is a legal process whereby the owner has a legal pathway to collect their money. When someone steals from another, there is often no recourse, especially if the thief cannot be identified.
@@Karen_MarieAn expensive legal process after an unconstitutional action of state theft. The burden of proof should always be on the state. It's an abomination.
@@Karen_Mariethey’re are both theft. Whether there’s a “pathway” or not it’s something an average single mother who had her money taken by civil forfeiture wouldn’t be able to do because she wouldn’t have the money, the police just took her money
I found a person's wallet, looked them up, and called them. They accused me of stealing it. I then informed the owner they could find their wallet in the same place i found it (in the middle of the parking lot). I left everything in the wallet (including the cash) and put it right back. The nerve of people.
That's why when I found a wallet with a lot of money and cards, I took it to the nearest police station. (The depressing part was that the cops several times congratulated me for being honest. My point of view was simply "It's not my money.")
If you stole it than why would you call them in a effort to do the right thing and return it to them with all belongings still intact. I can't believe how incredibly stupid people can be as you're doing them a huge favor and I would guess they were looking to cause some trouble for you. Sometimes people suck!!!
Same thing happened to me twice. Once I found a wallet, 40 years ago, looked up the name, called them, and the mother of the 20 year-old wallet owner screamed at me when they met me that I mugged her and robbed her! Hey idiot lady! Why would I call you to return this, with all your money, if I just stole from you? Why can't those dumb bunnies just say, "Thank you!" Just plain dumb!
I lost my wallet during Christmas season, it had all my Xmas cash, I was a single parent, someone turned it in at the store, I am still grateful for that person.
This is an entirely different situation. Obviously to find a personal wallet with everything in it will seriously disrupt an individual's life. It;s the honourable thing to do to return it to the owner. Finding a "bag of cash" is not likely to be a personal loss... more like someone at Walmart or Home Depot dropped it on the way to the bank. Or even someone from one of the banks dropped it... or it was stolen in the first place. I would wait and scan the press for someone pleading for their "life savings" to be returned... then I would return it. If no one asked for it back within 30 days... it would be "Finders Keeper."
I found a wallet next to an empty, idling car once, right before xmess. The wallet had over $700 in it. The car was in front of the local post office, so I went in to the lobby there with the male owner's driver license and wallet in hand. I saw a panicked looking 30-something guy rapidly patting down his clothes. And then our eyes met, he saw me with his I.D. and bulging wallet. I handed the goods over to him and he gave me a $10 reward. I don't care about the holiday, but I'm glad he got his xmess bonus back so he and his family could have some joy. It made both our days. Another time, I found a wad of lotto tickets in a plastic lotto envelope, both scratch and draw games. There was no name attached, so I kept it. Out of the $175 total purchase price for all the tickets, I "won" $75 while someone else lost $175, poor soul. About a month ago, I found a wallet on one of the two public, outdoor pianos in my town. It had no cash, but it did have a local address on an I.D. and some credit cards. I mailed it back that day. I had met the 20-something owner a couple of times, as it turned out, another eccentric pianist. A few days later, I got a letter in the mail from a family member of the guy who lost his wallet. They were astounded that someone in this day and age would spend their own money to return the wallet. No reward, which was fine. I later saw the pianist again at the piano. He was happy to have his wallet returned, it arrived the next day, less than 24 hours after he had lost it. He was more happy to be playing the piano [which I had recently re-tuned, for free].
@@rae0521in either scenario you just posed, you'd still be a fucking thief! Not being able to instantly identify the owner of the money you found doesn't make it morally okay to take it!
As a Citizen you don't have standing, however, so the money would win because you couldn't state a valid claim. Only the government who has thus been injured by the illegal activity can pull that one off
@@eddiemunster4094 That's the Cops' oldest trick in the book. There are studies that show that up to 90% of banknotes contain traces of cocaine. So the Cops know that if they test the banknotes, they are virtually guaranteed to find drug residue on them and can claim they are proceeds of a drug sale.
Something very close to 99.400% of all paper currency will test positive for drug residue including your wallet if you have ever had any previously circulated bills in it. This is due to cross contamination and since all drug business is say cash and carry. If you place your brand new currency in your wallet now it is dirty too. If the cops want your paper currency they will take it.@@eddiemunster4094 Civil forfeiture is lawful grand theft and worse.
A similar thing happened in TX decades ago. Several children found a bag that contained something like $100k. They took to one of the boys house and they, along with a father, turned into the police. After 30 days the money hadn’t been claimed, and the families asked for the money. The police refused, saying it had been seized because the money was likely the proceeds of drug dealing. The families said they will never turn anything over to the police again.
Except the police were almost certainly correct, as no one engaged in legitimate commerce carries such quantities of cash. It was certainly evidence, so the police were right. As to not turning it in, that is evidence tampering.
I mean... what do you expect if you drop something off to the police as "lost"? You basically admit to them it never belonged to you to begin with. Is there some kind of law I am unaware of regarding getting something back that goes unclaimed? *edit* seems like it depends on the state as usual, upon looking into this
Just do the right thing. Do to others what you would hope they would do to you. If you lost some money would you hope the finders would keep it or make an effort to find the rightful owner. Karma baby.
and what exactly happens to the money when the "perpetratrors" are never caught? You guessed it..into various precinct pockets. I'd never turn any cash I'd found in to the police. Why should they get it? I'm the one who found it! @@dancooper6002
Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit Court decided that two police officers in Fresno, California, who allegedly stole more than $225,000 in assets while executing a search warrant, could not be sued over the incident. Though "the City Officers ought to have recognized that the alleged theft was morally wrong," the unanimous 9th Circuit panel said, the officers "did not have clear notice that it violated the Fourth Amendment."
I think they have to have a similar case that’s already gone through the court system before they lose their qualified immunity. I might be mistaken. Either way, it’s disgusting and it’s the opposite of that supposed “higher standard” they’re always saying they’re held to.
@@firefly4f4 Good try, but wouldn't they have been required to turn in the cash to their department or is there a new standard of Personal Qualified Enrichment Asset Forfeiture they've rolled out?
QI covers shooting at you if you act suspiciously(like suddenly reaching for a bulky object in your belt), but it does NOT cover theft. The court decision was decided over lunch or dinner though.
I once lost my wallet with $1,600 cash in it inside a Target. I was relieved when they had it because I did not want to replace my credit and debit cards as well as my license. I was elated that every dollar was still there. Good people still exist.
Mate no one would want to return your wallet if there was money inside when you lost then suddenly there is not as no one wants to be accused of stealing
I was a private contractor paramedic in Iraq and Afghanistan for about 4 years. While in Tikrit (COB Speicher) I was heading into the DFAC (cafeteria) for dinner and I saw something on the ground in the entranceway. I bent down, picked it up and looked. To my surprise it was a very tight roll of money, $100 on the outside. I did not open the roll or count the money. I immediately took the cash to the DFAC guard on duty. I then spent about an hour retelling my story, writing a detailed report and repeatedly explaining that t did not steal anything. I was finally released and went to eat dinner. I promptly forgot about the incident. About 2 months later I was summoned to the MPs office and asked again about the money I turned in. I explained, again, exactly what happened. The Major I was speaking with said "Well, it's been 2 months and no one has claimed it or filed a report about missing money. So it's your lucky day! Take the roll and spend it on your next R&R." There was $1255 in that roll of cash. And my wife and I enjoyed every penny of it on vacation, lol.
@@doreeneclose6295 It was all on written record. Officers in Charge must make sure that they are satisfied before disbursing money.. When he asked you all the questions he had memorized your previous interview and he was making sure your story lined up the same the second time you gave it...to him. Satisfied...he could hand over the money...to you.
@@doreeneclose6295 On that base, at that time, I would expect most of them. There was a lot of scrutiny on the military then, and COB Speicher was a pretty big base.
I once found a wallet at a rest area with about $300 in it. There was also a drivers license in it so it was clear to me that it wasn't for me to keep. The owner actually came back looking for it after a few minutes. Now if I had found $300 in a paper bag with no information about the owner, it would have been a different story.
when I was about 16 I found a wallet without any money in it. So I took it home and gave it to my dad, and he called the cops the to return to its rightful owner (the guy's ID and credit cards and pictures of kids were in it, hopefully HIS kids). When the cops came, no thanks or anything, they just grilled me about where all the cash was. I mean, nobody ever loses a wallet without at least a small fortune in bills, right?
When I was 11 back in 1992, I was on a cross country road trip with my family. At a rest stop, I walked across the grass towards the restroom and found a diamond ring in the grass. I put it in my pocket and didn't tell my parents. In the restroom, there was a man in there freaking out about losing his wife's engagement ring and his brother or friend consoling him because they looked all over the rest area and couldn't find it, and how they couldn't leave without finding it. I pulled the ring out and asked if this was it. His eyes lit up and said yes as he breathed a big sigh of relief. I gave him the ring and he said thank you many times and gave me $100 for finding it. $100 was a big deal for an 11 year old kid in 1992. I just kept the money and still didn't tell my parents what happened.
Similar thing happened to me about 40 years ago when I was swimming at a popular swimming hole: I saw something on the bottom and dove down to get it... turned out to be a wallet with about $200 inside. There was a driver's license so I looked at it and sure enough, the guy was right there nearby. He hadn't noticed his loss yet, and $200 was a ton of money for me at the age of 19...but I returned the wallet to his profuse thanks.
I found an envelope in the parking lot of my bank containing about $1500. I turned the money into the bank. A couple of hours later they called me and said they found the person who lost it. The money belonged to a woman who had withdrawn it to make repairs to her car. The bank told me when they informed her that the money was found she began to cry because she didn't know what she was going to do to get her car fixed. The feeling of doing a good deed was worth more than the money if I had kept it.
Bottom line is that while the man likely should not be charged with anything in regards to crime.... I look down on him for not controlling his greed. Bank bag dropped on ground right at the outside of the bank building, with official documents and all... and the man felt no obligation to return it? Simply isn't right, but I still don't think the man deserves a charge. Now if he refused to return the money, that might be a different story altogether. *edit* seems like it is actually against connecticut law to not make an attempt to return it, and larceny is the proper charge under connecticut law. His admission that he felt no obligation will bury him in court
I once found an envelope with about $2 000 in it in the passage of the university where I was working at that time. I immediately started asking around to see whom the money belonged to. (This was in a South American country). I was surprised when colleagues congratulate me on turning the money in. What would they have done? The look on the face of the student that had lost the money was reward enough!
Years ago I was waiting in line at the local ice cream shop and the people in front of me, a married couple had an accident, in that a 100 dollar bill fell out of his wallet when he was opening it to pay for their ice cream and they did not even notice. Had I not done the right thing they might have realized that they are 100 dollars short at home hours later. But I picked it up and told the guy who had no idea that it had happened and handed it back. He was thankful but his wife told him to pay for my sundae too. So I got a free ice cream sundae out of it that of course was worth much less than 100 dollars. But it felt good to be honest and honorable and that was worth more than the money. Had I kept it my self esteem would have gone down.
@@comfeefort Yup, you can only talk yourself in deeper. Anything you say that’s exculpatory cannot be used in court unless you testify, and then you open yourself up to cross-examination. You can only talk yourself into a jail cell, not out of it!
@@colt5189isn’t it fuggin obvious dude? It’s none of their business. “I don’t answer questions” is simple enough ever heard of the constitution ??? #5!!
I did this once when I found a bank envelope with $2500 cash in it. I however decided to go into the bank and tell them I found a large sum of money, gave them my contact info, and told them to contact me if someone reports it lost and can tell me the exact amount of cash and the color of the rubber band it had around it. there was no rubber band tho. The bank contacted me within a few hours and told me that a guy was there and had said he lost exactly $2500 but it was in an envelope and not in a rubber band. They were confused about the rubber band part but that was exactly what I was looking for. So I went back to the bank and returned the money. The man was very grateful and handed me $100 reward which I didn't even want but was really broke at the time so I accepted it.
A few years ago, I found some cash in an RV we rented. I was going through it before i returned it and found it in a little cubby hole in of the bunks. I called everyone that was on the trip and no one claimed it. When I returned the RV I asked if the previous renter had asked about something thry had lost or left behind. No one had called looking for it. So I told the rental place that I had found something and if anybody called, and could confirm what they lost, I'd be happy to return it. I held onto the money for 30 days, and it was never claimed.
@@garymartin9777 Yup. If the officer you hand it to bothers to turn it into the department, the department keeps it, but individual officers have the option to just ...not. Then they wait 30 days and keep it.
I found $400 at Starbucks. Honest fool that I am I turned it over to the barista. A short while later a woman came in and thanked me, gave me a coffee and $10.00 for my honesty. She looked so much like the barista she could have been her mother.
I found $700 cash in a parking spot in a local shopping area. It was in an envelope and had been there for a while because it had tire tracks on it. The only thing inside the envelope besides the money was a hardly legible bank deposit slip. I knew that it had to be one of the merchants in the area. I worked very hard to find out who it belonged to. I returned it to the owner of the store. One of her employees had dropped it on the way to the bank. She was so grateful that I actually returned the money, she insisted on giving me $100. I graciously accepted it.
What’s with people losing bank deposits and not noticing it when they get to the bank and discover they don’t have it? Do they just shrug “oh well” and leave? Don’t they go out and retrace their steps to find it?
I laughed out loud when I heard that it was "tax funds." OF COURSE they'd say it was a crime!!! If it was someone else's money the city wouldn't care. But it's theirs and they have the power to punish you for not turning it in...it's different when it's *their* money. My newest saying is this: "Anyone who says money is the root of all evil has never met a lawyer."
Yeah like how they "can't do anything until he does something" about stalking and lesser violence but it's assault if cops beat you up and you get blood on their uniform
@@anthonyegreene You are also misquoting 1 Timothy 6:10. It's actually "the love of money is the root of all evil" that would mean greed (some translations also say desire for money). Saying "the want of money" would mean the lack of money is the root of all evil (which is pretty true too though). It's like the proverb about "for want of a nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the rider was lost, etc etc." or like the saying "you have been found wanting." It's not saying the desire for a nail, it's the lack of a nail, just like it's not saying "found desiring" but "found lacking".
No. He got charged because he took money that didn't belong to him. The bag was clearly labeled with the bank logo and inside was the owners information. All he had to do was walk it back into the bank and hand it to the manager. But he chose to take it instead. That's why he was charged.
The larceny charge will likely not stick, but what's more infuriating to me is the fact that if you or I lost money, the police wouldn't even come out to take a report for that, let alone "investigate" a damn thing. Personally, I am curious if he came forward or they actually were able to track it down. My guess is that he no longer has the money or refuses to return it, hence the charge.
@@idaikiyeah unfortunately you're right about that. But the cops do crazy things like that all the time. They destroyed a woman's house because a shoplifter ran in before. And she wasn't even the criminal! And when she asked for money to fix the $60,000 in damage they did to her house the cops were like too bad so sad
Lost my phone, fell out of pocket as I got into friend's car at store. Video surveillance shows someone else walking over after we drove away, picking up my phone then used my phone to access cash app and sent himself my balance ($164). I called cops, told them about video, guy has been in jail the last couple of months. Some cops do their jobs
@@kevinkelly3481I am repeatedly amazed at the number of people who don't keep their phone locked. Especially if it has immediate access to their money. 🤷🏾♂️
No matter what jurisdiction you live in, the "authorities" will find a way to prosecute you for almost anything. We have buildings full of thousands of volumes of LAWS and given enough time and reason, someone will find one of them to use against you.
@@stischer47 honestly, id bet you still would be laughed out of the court. only reason this is happening is cause its the government money it stole from people. gov don't like competition.
guarantee you're wrong. There's protocol for what you're supposed to do if you find lost items or money, and just taking it is not that. Now, if the cops found it and siezed it as evidence, you can kiss it goodbye because you're never seeing it again.
That's not true... You are only "laughed out of court" If you cannot provide a valid legal claim with good evidence. Someone takes your $5K will give a few options, so as long as you can prove what happened and that it fits a claim (Such as unjust enrichment, or recovery of personal property), then you're good.
It's in a bank bag, he's lucky it's not a federal case of bank robbery and destruction of banking instruments for the checks. I'm not saying that's right, just that he could be facing way more charges here with a locked bank bag in the bank parking lot.
@@mattgayda2840 here’s the thing though, we are going by what the town says, with the other procedures that apparently didn’t happen, it comes into question if there WAS any other documentation in the bag.🤷♂️
@@calebvalesko36 it was a locked bank bag in the bank parking lot and he's on video, their policy violations mean nothing besides the normal public servants abusing taxpayers without consequences.
@@mattgayda2840are we sure it was a "locked" bank bag? I will admit that would make alot of difference here. But unfortunately from the facts I heard Steve say this would then be some sort of violation from the bank not the town. And even then it would be highly dependent if this was a generic deposit bag or a bag issued by the bank that essentially is still bank property.
Exactly, the cops were just mad they didn't get to steal it first, and even if the guy had turned it in to the police, they would have stolen it under civil asset forfeiture.
No they would not. The cops would have to post a legal advertisement that it was found and people would usually have 30 days to claim it. We have some crooked cops but by far the majority are hard working good people who put their lives on the line to help people.
@@daviddesmond2143 The crooked cops are protected by so called "good cops" which makes them more evil as they are in a position to do something about them, and refuse.
@@daviddesmond2143 Thank you. This channel (including Steve) has become more of a slant against law enforcement than when I first started listening. Too bad, I think Steve was doing a great job sticking to general idiots who did stupid stuff (and yes, that includes cops on a few occasions but not disproportionately).
I learned my lesson before. I found $800 in the parking lot of a Harris Teeter grocery store. I am a rep that goes to stores and knew the employees. I handed it over to the store manager bc I know how if feels taking a loss like that and tried to do the right thing, learned real quick not to do that again like I did. I asked about the money every week and turned out the store kept the money. I’ll never do that again.
As a teenager (during late 2000s) working for a gas station I found a $100 bill while sweeping the parking lot and when I bragged about it later the GM reported me to HR and I was told to surrender it to the company since I found it on company property while on the clock. I refused and was wrote up over it and a few months later I was fired for "poor performance"
I would have no moral issue if you had kept the money and kept quiet. However, imagine you hired some landscapers, and they found $100 bill in your backyard, and they bragged to you about finding it in your yard. Would you see the situation the same way?
@@kirke420 Well, no, since I probably didn't lose a $100 bill in my backyard, and there shouldn't be anybody back there thats losing $100. It would be concerning. If it were just in the cul-de-sac, it'd be more comparable, and I wouldn't care.
Years ago I bought a jacket for $5 at a thrift store. When i got it home i found $1000 in it. Their policy was clear that you are buying it "as is... no refunds". If there was a stain added to the item then I own the stain. It is no different than if there is money added to it.
auctions work the same way, you basically won the lottery. You did the right thing keeping it, they would have never found the rightful owner of that money.
Once was at a Salvation Army, tried on a jacket when I felt something in a pocket. Reached in, and pulled out like $35... not as awesome as your find, but still pretty cool.
In your logic, if you sold your used dresser on Craigslist and forgot to take out the diamond ring your grandparents had given you, then you should no legal right to take it back, right? In the case of a thrift store, they also don't have the legal right to keep the money either. The thrift shop should turn the money in to the police in case the original owner of the jacket is looking for the money.
@@onespeedlite IMO cash (at least, up to a point) is a little bit trickier than that, especially in the context of a thrift store where an item of clothing might not have ANY identifying piece of information attached to it regarding its previous owner.
Can you imagine what'd happen if the guy was pulled over on his way home and the police seized the funds (now separated from the ownership evidence) for a civil asset forfeiture? The city would want the fungible funds back from the man, the police would have turned over the funds to the federal government as part of their normal hot potato shtick, the man would have no ability to get the funds back from the police since they actually weren't his. It could become a ridiculous mess to unroll.
Well... if someone comes after you and says, "you found my money, hand it back". You can just say you handed it over to the police. Take it up with them. After all, if you find something valuable, handing it over to the police is a legitimate action you could take.
@@roccov3614 I wonder if this would make a good movie plot. "Give me back my money. Jim Smith handed the money over to you." "He didn't hand over the money, we seized that money, it was suspected to be the profits of a crime." "Great, the crime was it had been stolen from me. I'm glad you're prosecuting him. When can I get my money back?" "Uh... we didn't prosecute him. We sued the money in court. It's ours now, a judge ruled on it and everything. Smith even signed something saying he wouldn't contest it. Quite magnimonious of him, they almost never do that." "Say what now? That's my money! Give me back my money." "Oooh, sorry, the federal government has it now..."
I have yet to hear an attorney give this advice, either to their clients, or to a general audience: "Go ahead and talk to the cops without the presence of an attorney. There is no possible way anything could go wrong, so don't worry about it."
Not exactly the same, but I remember an old guy telling me a story once where he found a wallet, with no I.D., credit cards, etc. but some cash in the middle of a street in our college town. Goes to turn it in to the police. They start the 20 questions routine. After 15 minutes, after asking him everything but his shoe size, "What's your Social Security number?" At that point, since it was now past Midnight, the guy (and most of that town knew) there was only one cop on duty at the station, and they couldn't leave the office behind the security window, the guy said "Screw this!" and started walking away. "Hey, you can't leave!" "Am I under arrest?" "No - but where do you think you're going with that wallet?" "To the exact location I told you I found it. I'm going to leave it there. You want it, call a patrol car to pick it up - I through with your BS!"
@@jenkinsljenkinssquire9137 whenever a police officer starts asking you questions and you are NOT under arrest or officially under investigation tell him that if he wants to ask you more questions he must read you your rights AND arrest you and even then you will need to be provided with a lawyer. Then he HAS to back down if he has nothing on you.
It is a shame that police can claim qualified immunity and civil asset forfeiture, but a private citizen is held to a higher standard to follow obscure laws.
They should consider it fruit of the poisonous tree from their unfollowed policy. Lol. At what point are they going to be accountable for their own incompetence? I made hundreds of deposits and never lost one, without an escort.
There is nothing obscure about this. Anytime you find property you know is not yours, you may not keep it. The guy should have just kept his mouth shut about the money and not told anyone. And gotten rid of the bag.
@@alanmcentee9457 Tell that to federal, local, and state police! They “find” cash all the time and take it without any charges or warrants. What law states that you cant find something on the street and keep it? Is this law taught in civics class in school if it does even exist?
Yeah, about that return thing. Years ago I found an antique cash register on the side of a forested road and called the police. The officer who responded picked it up, along with the money in it (not counted), wrote a report, and took it with him. Before he left, I asked what would happen if they didn't find the owner and he said it would be returned to me within 60 days if I called about it. Hah! LOL! When I called weeks later, there was no report, no cash register, no nothing. Nobody knew anything about it. And I had found the small store it likely was stolen from but they had not been contacted by the police. So..... In all fairness, though, in a case like this I would still be inclined to return the money to the bank because of the marked bag and identifying receipts inside, but would take pics of contents, get a news camera crew to pick up the story, and have the bank sign a release. Just to keep everybody "honest." Good luck to that guy.
Failing to notice any identifiable items or the bank name on the bag due to being so focused on the money that was in the bag reminded me of the cops who failed to notice the train tracks the cruiser was parked on.
The guy wasn't brought up right. I wonder how many bicycles and other unattended property he's "found" in his life. It was in a bank bag in a bank parking lot. It obviously belonged to someone.
Yea a random twenty dollar you find on an empty street, obviously belong to someone. It's not a question if he stole it. Because he didn't , it's a question of if it was reasonable that he saw anything that would lead him to suspect that he could locate the owner. Because you know if you turn anything in to the police without knowing who owns the thing, the best thing that could happen is that is sits in a evidence locker forever. The worst thing that probably happens more often is that in ends up in their pockets, " thank you for the delivery, as thanks we might just hassle you for no reason, pray that we don't charge you with a crime and you better not ask about it again, because tonight I'm getting steak". Now if there actually were documents in the bag that points in the right direction, and the bag had some sort of logo or writing that matches the bank. He has no excuse. But it's still too much to charge him with larceny. All he has to do is return the documents,bag and the cash. If he spent it then he owes them.
Steve , I love watching your videos... Your NOT picking up anything less than a dime reminded me of this... In my mothers last moments here on earth she looked at me and said, " start looking for pennies". Years before her death she told me that I would know when she was watching over me because she would leave a penny. I haven't passed up a penny since.
I once found $1,200 in a bank deposit bag. There were no recipients or identifying papers in it. I was outside a Burlington Coat Factory so I took it into the store and turned it in. I was met with a frazzled manager that had lost the money and was grateful to have it back. I too thought it was my lucky day but common sense told me it would probably not be a good idea to just keep the money. If I had however, I would not have spoken to the cops.
The right thing to do is turn it in. This story is upsetting because the town would never help an average citizen get back lost money. But since it was the city, they used every resource they had to get the money back. Probably spent well over the amount lost just on the detectives that spent months investigating 😂
@@FRANKHDIETRICH Makes me tempted to put $20 in a bag marked with my name, with a filled out deposit slip, and drop it on the floor of that bank. Maybe linger nearby with a video camera. Would the police charge someone who picked it up and kept it? Would the bank deposit it according to the deposit slip if they found that on the floor of their lobby? Would the bank get in trouble if they didn't? Somehow I doubt it.
so they had no proof the money was theirs, but they didnt turn it down.? did they even look? it took you less than a minute to find them but they were unable to find the money? or were they so inept they didnt realize yet that they had thrown all that money away? or was the amount so small do them that they didnt bother looking?
"A person who comes into control of property of another that he knows to have been lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake as to the nature or amount of the property or the identity of the recipient is guilty of larceny if, with purpose to deprive the owner thereof, he fails to take reasonable measures to restore the property to a person entitled to it." CT Gen Stat § 53a-119 (4). (2022)
My younger brother was walking to the corner market and spotted a ladies wallet in the ditch. Apparently she had left on her roof after pumping gas. When he got to the market he alerted the clerk he'd found it. She opened the wallet to find the name of the owner and also saw 5. $100 bills. She broke one into $20s and put it back in the wallet. The lady came back, thanked and praised my brother then lamented the fact she only had hundreds. She burst out laughing when she saw the $20s and gave my brother a C-note instead.
Connecticut General Statutes (C.G.S.) § 53a-119 Larceny defined. A person commits larceny when, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner. If you find something that doesn't belong to you and keep it, that's theft
Steve, It happened to me. I was making a deposit at a bank and when I left I found cash and checks blowing away on the ground. I took them in to the bank and asked if anyone had lost them. Some guy in a suit said yes and grabbed them out of my hand without even a thanks. Obviously he was embarrassed, but I thought as I left that I should have let the damn stuff blow away. Cheers, Rik Spector
One of those situations where someonw is so stressed they're not acting eight. I did thw same thing when i lwft my wallet on a payphone in the seatle airport, had to dig out a calling card. Then walked off. Realized it walked back and a kid was taking it into the store. I was in a rush and always regret not spwnding morw timw with the kid. I did say thank you
Thats where you pull it back and say "hang on there a second, how do I know its yours. Tell me where the checks are from". If he can't tell you, call the cops and let them figure it out.
The last time I found a large sum of money in a parking lot, I had the customer service person count the money under the camera. On the way out of the store I seen the driver of the car that the money was sitting by and asked the driver if they were missing any money, the lady looked in her purse and said "I'm missing a lot of money" then I told her to go inside and tell customer service how much money is missing.
Kind of happened to me years ago, but differently. Days before one Christmas, I found a $100 bill in the parking lot of my local market’s strip mall. I went into the market, and asked the ‘managet’ if anyone had reported the loss. He said, no, but insisted I give him the bill. I said no way. He got ornery, but I stood firm. All I could think of was some innocent teenager that had been given the bill from his grandparents for a birthday and he’d planned to spend it on loved ones for Christmas. So I took the bill directly to our local police station to add to their ‘found box.’ One year later, the police sent me a letter, saying because no one had claimed it, that it was mine to come in and pickup. I went to the station and told them to put it toward their charitable causes. They looked at me like I had 3 heads. Apparently it had never happened before.
@@bobcoats2708 I hear you, but it didn’t. The whole thing left me feeling unresolved. That money must have meant something to somebody. If not a teenager than maybe an elderly person who’d just gotten off the Council on Aging bus for their once-a-week grocery shopping.
Let's be honest, we all know the only reason he's being charged is because of the incompetence of the government employees and the police. If any civilian made a police report about dropping or misplacing a money bag, they'd probably just get a "well maybe you should've been more careful with your money." Government employees just can't take responsibility. They gotta drag a guy down to take attention away from their own failure.
Went into the bank, didn't have the money, and .. left ? Without searching the parking lot ? Or maybe they were queuing in the bank and hadn't noticed it's missing yet.
Some 25 years ago, I remember reading a story where a guy returned an unused portion of toothpaste to a big company for his refund as a dissatisfied customer. When they went to issue is $3 refund, a clerical error ensued and some entered his zip code as the dollar amount. As this happened to be in California, it ended up being like 90k. The guy cashed the check and skipped town. 😂
Do you remember reading/watching "Robin Hood?" The Sheriff would have had their head on a pole for this gross incompetence (or conspiring of these two.) Alternatively, the King would cover their appointee with a twist on the truth and vilify a lowly peasant. Which do you think it is?
He could tell them he thought the money was being used for drugs so he kept it to protect society and let them sue him to get the money back and prove the money is actually theirs.
@@interstellarsurfer But what happens if he hires a drug sniffing dog and the dog responds? Then you contact another police dept. with jurisdiction and claim you found drug money. You don't get the money, but the intra-gov't fighting will be epic.
Uh.... I don't think that was the lesson. I think the lesson was, if you find money in the bank parking lot, in a bank deposit bag, with a deposit slip inside, you might want to think twice about taking it if your state has a law that defines keeping money you find laying on the ground as theft, because banks have cameras everywhere. But I guess these sorts of "differences of opinion" are how people get themselves into these kinds of messes.
If you find ANYTHING, it is not yours. In many jurisdictions, you have an obligation to search for the owner and return it. Also, if you give it to the "wrong" person (i.e., not the owner, but someone else), you can be held liable for the loss. [And that goes for giving it to the police, too.] Your best bet is to keep it and not tell anyone else what it is or what's in it. Then put out the word that you found something, but don't give it to anyone unless they can identify it in some way that is satisfactory to you.
I can't say I know what the law is about this, but ethically, if there is identifying information, returning it to the owner is the right thing to do. In the absence of any identifying information, I'd be inclined to keep the money and keep my mouth shut.
@@russlehman2070 given that the identifying info labeled it as tax revenue, I’d ethically keep some as s finder’s fee. It’s partly my money anyway after all.
Steve is right about one thing, he really shouldn't talked to the police without consel. I had jury duty earlier this month. In that case, 2 guys got into an argument over money, a gun came into play, and one guy got shot. How'd the police turn the investigation? The defendant told the cops that he'd grabbed the gun and thrown it away because he didn't want his prints on it.
Today it seems that even if your innocent, heck possibly even the victim in some cases, it's may be best to have legal counsel before answering questions. It may seem strange but it you never know what the Cops or DA agenda will be towards any issues that may arise. Things may be a self defense in the eyes of most people, but the authorities may have ideologies that don't see things in that manner.
@@marcuslinton310 Granted, but remaining silent doesn't mean you won't be arrested and hauled of to jail and then to court. So in some point in that process you'll need or want to have legal counsel. I don't believe just sitting in court saying nothing during your trial with no one representing you except the air will help much.
@@darcam You literally said "best to have legal counsel before answering questions". So exactly when are these questions being asked that you reference? Because I doubt the police are going to wait around for your attorney to show up while at your door asking questions. No legit attorney is going to even dish out advice on what to say if you cold call them about a situation, other then to remain silent. So, you either talk or remain silent, which is it? Again, I don't need a lawyer at this point to tell me to remain silent. This is usually the scenario where people try and talk their way out of being arrested, which isn't very smart and you end up arrested anyway. Simple, innocent remarks are always twisted against you, everything gets twisted, turned, and mangled to end up against you. Now, once you end up in custody for whatever reason, well... DUH! Call a lawyer. But up until you are officially arrested, don't answer jack squat, not even if you're just invited down to the station for a voluntary chat.
@@darcamif you never tell anyone, absolutely never speak of the money, tuck it away and spend it slowly, the police will not ever know you found it. If they ask, say I would love to find some money that easy. I have to work for mine. Y'all have a good day and good luck with your investigation.
To me, if there’s no identifying documents as to who the owner is, then if you were to ask the first person who you saw, they’d likely say it was theirs. Because of that likelihood, it might as well be yours. But it f it said the name or organization that it belonged to… I would honestly feel guilty about keeping it. Same with a $100 bill you find on the sidewalk. If you didn’t see someone drop it and there’s no name connected to it, it is not wrong to keep it. But if you then saw an old lady frantically looking around for it, I would also return it to her.
Just because someone dropped an item does not mean they immediately lose ownership of it. A lot of places have laws requiring you to turn lost items you find in to the police. If it's not collected by the owner within a certain period of time, it becomes yours. But if you don't turn it in to the police and just keep it, it becomes theft.
Years ago After withdrawing $1200 from my bank for my rent in a Walmart. I grabbed a few things out of the grocery store and went to my car. I put my pocketbook on my car as I put my groceries in the backseat, well I drove off with it on top of my car. I made it all the way home and screamed when I noticed I didn’t have it. I sped so fast back to Walmart, ran inside with tears in my eyes asking the customer service desk if anyone turned it in. While standing there waiting on an answer a woman walks in with my pocketbook and says “someone lost this”. She said she found it in the parking lot. Thankfully everything was still in it, I hugged her so tight and thanked her, I can’t tell you the relief I had when she walked in with it. I offered to give her $20 cause I was a lil hard up on money and couldn’t give much, but she said she didn’t want my money, God just had her in the right place at the right time.
Years ago around Christmas time I found a wallet in a parking lot and when I opened it I looked at the ID to see who the owner was and saw that there was a decent amount of money. Didn't touch the money or credit cards. The next day I brought it to the police station where the person lived. I was about to leave the station and they asked if I wanted to leave my information in case they wanted to thank me, which I did. A few days later when I came home there was a gift bag hanging from my door knob. It contained a quaint Santa Claus and a bottle of wine and a lovely thank you card. It made my day.
@@highschoolbigshotThe police station.... of the town or city in which the person who lost the wallet lived. You know, because that info was on the I.D. in the wallet that was lost.
From the Connecticut statute on larceny: Acquiring property lost, mislaid or delivered by mistake. A person who comes into control of property of another that he knows to have been lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake as to the nature or amount of the property or the identity of the recipient is guilty of larceny if, with purpose to deprive the owner thereof, he fails to take reasonable measures to restore the property to a person entitled to it. So, since the bag had the bank logo on it, you can probably easily convince a jury that it would have been reasonable to turn the bag into the bank. Steve’s right, he needed an attorney present before he talked to the cops.
Yea, it would seem he buried himself by saying he felt no obligation to return it, when in reality the law required him to act whether he felt that way or not
Steve, I had a similar occurrence in a bank parking lot a number of years ago. I found 5 loose twenties by my car as I was leaving. (At that time $100 represented real money.) I went back in the bank and asked if anyone had reported losing any cash. They replied no report of lost money. I left my name and phone no, but was never contacted by anyone.
In college, I found a purse in my front yard. I went through it and found money, cards and an ID. I called her and left a message, then called the police. The police came then she came storming up accusing me of stealing it. The cops read her the riot act explaining that no one would steal a purse, call the police and the person and return 8t with all the money.
Had a boss that would leave a fake lost wallet out with $50 at job interviews as an honesty and integrity test only 1 in 5 would return it. Those that returned it always got hired no matter their skill set and an extra $5 an hour of what was posted on the job listing. I loved that Job and that boss. He still has a successful business. because he knows who he can trust.
In many jurisdictions, you are supposed to turn found property in to the police and get a receipt. If no one claims it after a period of time, you get to keep it.
While at the bank drive-thru, the person ahead of me left an envelope of cash in the vessel, which I promptly returned, along with my deposit. There were no cameras, so while a person could have deniability and act as though the money wasn't in there, I could never in good conscience steal something that is not mine.
@@insideoutsideupsidedown2218 There was nobody there when I drove up, just a fat wad of money in the container. There is no way that I could take anything that was not mine, regardless of the circumstances.
We need to blame the city's employee for misplacing the bag in the first place. Surely, the employee noticed straight away when you dropped the bag .now, long was the bag just lying there .
I went into a gas station the other day to use the restroom first before filling up. The restroom was “out of order.” This is a reason why I always go in first before giving them my business. I saw a folded up $20 bill on the floor and before anyone else who spotted it could pick it up I did. I could have given it to the cashier of course….but I didn’t. Made it worth holding my bladder for another stop.
My daughter (10 at the time) found a little change purse with $300 and no ID in it. I left a note in the bag with my cell number, held onto the $300, and turned it into the counter at the fast food place. The owner called me 2 weeks later and we met up to return the money.
The way the guy answered the questions indicates he knew damned well where it was supposed to go, but at the same time...I have a hard time feeling sorry for the person who lost the 'city funds'.
When I was a child, I clearly remember my parents telling us, if you find a quarter or a dollar laying in the street with no one around, that's okay to pocket. Anything more, you need to look around and ask to see who may have dropped it. If you happened to find something really valuable that's apparently abandoned, you call the police. I know it rare these days, but some places the police will return it to you if it is left unclaimed long enough.
No they won't - they'll seize it with civil asset forfeiture (so they can buy a margaritaville machine for the break room) - and if you take it there personally, they'll likely shake you down for any cash or valuables you have on you at the time too.
@@keithfreitas2983 Police will even take money they see you just pulled out of a bank today, and call it drug money. Though if you are here on Steve’s channel you know that.
Had this happen once, it was a bank bag with 7000+ in cash plus credit card receipts. That it had the receipts in it made it easy to find the buisness that owned it and thr manager was extremely happy to get it back. Apperently it was supposed to be deposited in the bank and and the assistant manager left it on their car while taking a phone call. Ooof.😂
I thought it was fairly common knowledge that if you find something of great value on the street, you need to make an attempt to return it to the owner before you get to keep it
I do not think "common knowledge" should ever be used as a measure because it is something not built into your DNA when you are born. Your parents had to raise you and pass on the "common knowledge".
I just read 53a-119 where Larceny is defined in Connecticut; it seems the extortion part is just one of the many things they can get you for on larceny, and not a requirement. They would probably go after him for part "(4) Acquiring property lost, mislaid or delivered by mistake."
When I was a teen I found a briefcase. It was locked I dropped it off at the police department. Months later I was sent $20 in the mail from the owner. I look at things like this "its not mine" and not mine to keep. Doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. Later in my 20's I lost $1500 in the bank and lucky for me the lady that found it turned it in. The teller knew I had lost it and contacted me.
When I was a kid there were times that people would find a duffel bag of cash in the middle of the wilderness (usually during deer season), sometimes hanging from a tree. It was hotly debated if the smart thing to do was to just leave the obvious drug money where you found it, haul it out and throw it in the back of your vehicle, or hide it someplace and go get it later. Absolutely nobody was of the opinion that you should let the government know the slightest thing about it, or deposit it into your bank account. Most people were of the opinion that, depending on how long it looked like it had been out there and how many witnesses might be around, to either haul it out ASAP or hide it to recover later when there were fewer people that might notice.
This just happened to my girlfriend yesterday. She went to the bank on lunch to deposit some cash.the bank was very busy both inside the bank and the druve thru. 15 minutes later, while she was in a store, she got an alert for a second deposit. Seems like someone elses money might have gotten deposited by accident. She called that branch twice, and a nearby branch no answer. I told her call them again and leave a message but don't touch the money. Probably hear more about it later today.
I was little and my mom and dad would let me go into the post office to get the mail. There was a $20 bill on the sidewalk so I ran up to the nearest person and asked if it was theirs. Of course, he said yes. My parents were not happy because it did not belong to the man but he took it anyway. I have found stuff and always attempt to return to owner.
He should have said he believed the money was linked to a crime, past present or future. He confiscated it for the good of society. If officials from that same county found that money in his car, they would ignore deposit slips too. They’d confíscate it and make him sue to get it back.
Given the likelihood of identifying the owner of such a thing was none? No. But context matters, and not only was finding and identifying the proper owner in this context an easy ask, but there's also the amount of money and the fact that it was in front of the bank where it was meant to be deposited in a deposit bag? Yeah, that's quite a bit different from your example. Things need to be looked at case by case. You can't just come up with a random example involving money, acting like that it's the same thing and still be considered a reasonable person.
Borderline because of the small value. I probably would have given it to lost and found if there were one nearby. I've turned in less than $10 in cash to lost and found. Otherwise, I would have left it alone or put it someplace prominent in case the owner came back looking for it. One time my friend lost a pair of glasses in the park. We came back later and some nice person had hung them from a sign so they were easy to find.
It reminds me of last year when I found an iPhone at the dog park. The park is next to the police station and I walked over and asked them what I should do with it. They said to leave it by the front door. I was confused because it was late and it was closed and told them that, but ultimately I did what they asked. The phone was, of course, stolen and I met the owner later. A lesson to be learned, put up notices and make a better effort to find the owner, and don't do stupid stuff the police ask you to do.
That guy straight up tried to steal the money. You find a bag of money in a bank parking lot, with the bank logo, with a slip showing who the money belongs to and his response is "I felt no obligation to return the money", yeah he tried stealing that money. His character? I have encounter people that swear to be nice, sweet, etc and are among the nastiest people I have ever met.
I know this has happened before. I used to work for a KFC and the manager somehow lost a bag with 3K in it. I don't think it was ever found. It can happen but that is one reason why more than one person should be sent to make a deposit.
Most of these seem so small. I worked a multi-screen movie theatre when I was a teen. Cleaning the theatres between shows and at the end of the night we found money daily, as well as purses and wallets on a regular basis. Wallets and purses we took to the ticket booth and if no one came back we'd often check for ID and contact them but loose cash was another story. If it was a large amount (sometimes hundreds of dollars, my personal 'best' was $480) we'd tell the office in case someone came back and asked about it. The real kicker was, in all the years I worked there, not once did someone come back and ask.
When I was young 50 years ago, I found a golden bracelet. I reported it to the police and they told me to keep it for 5 years. After that it was mine to keep, unless the rightful owner claimed it before that time. I still have it 🤠 This was in the Netherlands.
It's illegal in the UK to keep something you find that isn't yours. I believe it's known as 'stealing by finding'. Having said that, I don't think I've ever heard of someone being tried for it.....surely it's useful when some criminal has possession of an item they stole and says they found it.
The issue is not that he doesn’t know who’s property it is. The issue is that he knows it’s not his. You take something that is not yours, you have stolen it. You always should turn in “found” property to the authorities. If no one claims it after some statutory passage of time, you will then be awarded the property.
I guess you are right. I guess the next time you find a penny on the ground, and pick it up, I'll be right there, right next to you, waiting to Arrest and charge you with Possession of Stolen Property.
@@Bretware904 Which is brain dead stupid. In 'Concept', it makes sense. If something is lost, we want it found. BUT We also want the concept of Finders Keepers, being able to find and pick up $20, $100 bills off the ground, and able to make a living using a Metal Detector. ^ How can these ideas exist and be praised, if LEGALLY you MUST turn in EVERYTHING you find that is not yours. AND, at which point is it legally Abandoned and now Yours? Especially when the Government, and Police, and can turn and claim to you "The owner came and got them item", but that's a lie and instead the Police/government Pocketed the item/money instead. It is one of the few laws that is WILDLY Applied, where the Government takes a Minigun and shoots wildly, and NO ONE has any idea what IS or IS NOT Legal and will or will NOT be charged criminally.
Steve , in the UK it is 'theft by finding' because it is likely that someone will notice that amount is gone and will look for it , especially near a bank and be able to prove that it had just been withdrawn or dropped on the way in , the finder should either go into the bank and hand it back or report it to the police because the rightful owner is likely to check both places to see if it has been handed in as it is a significant amount. The finder also knows that the owner is likely to be found that's why it is theft , If it was $5 , not so much
I'd need more details, since the only Lionel Hutz I've ever heard of was a character in the early seasons of _The Simpsons,_ voiced by the late Phil Hartman, whose death occurred decades ago.
Aside from the moral implications, most states have ordinances that require you to make some effort to find the owner before keeping whatever you found. Not doing so is usually a misdemeanor crime punishable by a fine and public service.
If he found $5k in a plain envelope with no markings I'd say he did no wrong, but if it was in a bag with markings and had slips with it, yeah, charge him.
Steve I learned a valuable lesson in high school. I happened to find some stolen property. I collected it and put it in my locker. I had a hunch it could possibly be stolen, but I was not sure. So I had plans to take it to the place I believe it could have been stolen from after school. Well, a friend of mine who I let use my locker sometimes due to the fact his locker was all the way on the other side of campus. Found the property and took some of it, and was caught with it. Well, guess what happened. I learned at that point to not say anything to the police with out a attorney, and possession of stolen property is a crime. Well, even though my attorney told the police I was planning on returning the property to the owner, they refused to believe me. Luckily, this happened back when police didn't like bad press, and I had an aunt that was a reporter for the local newspaper. When the police started reading in the paper how good samaritans should not preform good deeds. The police immediately eliminated me from the investigation.
I went and looked up Larceny in the state of Connecticut. If you find lost property or money in excess of certain values (hence 3rd degree) and do not make a reasonable attempt to return it to the owner it is considered larceny. If this guy found a bag of money with a deposit slip and walked off with it, that absolutely meets the bar here.
@@fauxque5057but the money didn't belong to the bank. None of the money deposited into a bank belongs to the bank. It belongs to the person whose business name is on the deposit slip. When I used to work in retail I would take money to the bank everyday and none of that money ever belonged to the bank
In Illinois that would be called "Theft of lost or mislaid property" and could be a misdemeanor or felony depending on the amount. The procedure in Illinois would be to notify the police that you possess it and if the owner is identified it would have to be returned.
I looked it up and one subdefinition of larceny in CT is "Acquiring property lost, mislaid or delivered by mistake." I think most places have something similar.
@@cmmosher8035 The law isn't going off of that definition though. They are treating it as the unlawful removal of property. The implication is that he stole property. So the question is this. If you find a wallet with an ID in it, and it has $3k in it, should you lawfully turn it into the police, or is it forfeit at the discretion of the person who found it in the middle of the street? All depends on state law, not federal. In the case of california, you absolutely would be charged with a crime. It can even be considered a felony depending on the value in question. This happened in connecticut, and it does look like, while not as severe as california, you are obligated by law to make an attempt at returning lost goods. I do not believe it should be considered larceny though, so perhaps there is still a reason to fight that particular claim, but he will be punished one way or another. *edit* looked into it more, and it does seem like under connecticut law, larceny is the proper charge for this incident
Did you hear about the guy who found a bag with $65,000 in it? You didn’t because he was smart enough to never tell anyone he found it.
exactly my thought.
Exactly. No good deed goes unpunished.
The guy in this story may have been on camera and found that way.
Did you not listen? The police reviewed security camera footage at the bank, which is how they discovered the identity of the person who found the bag.
You do realize you live in a world filled with cameras recording all the time. So not telling anyone doesn't mean no one will ever know you took it.
Drug dealers are putting Air Tags in their drug and money shipments. So if you find a bag of cash on the road and you decide to take it home, you might want to consider that a drug cartel might know exactly where there money went, and will be paying you a visit in the middle of the night.
And even if you find the air tag once you get the money home, its too late. You have probably already been pinged, so you better have their money if they come calling.
So sad people wouldn’t return something that wasn’t theirs. This attitude is the reason we are having a blight of shoplifting.
SO cops are mad because he simply performed a civil forfeiture?
the city is mad, not necessarily the cops. either way, the government hates competition.
Not comparable.
No one should be defending this man's actions. What if the $5k was the 1 year savings of someone struggling to buy a car? Or the 1 month paycheck of a single mom/dad?
Civil asset forfeiture is wrong and I would never defend it, however, it is a legal process whereby the owner has a legal pathway to collect their money. When someone steals from another, there is often no recourse, especially if the thief cannot be identified.
His mistake was not accusing the money of a crime. Then he could claim citizens arrest.
@@Karen_MarieAn expensive legal process after an unconstitutional action of state theft. The burden of proof should always be on the state. It's an abomination.
@@Karen_Mariethey’re are both theft. Whether there’s a “pathway” or not it’s something an average single mother who had her money taken by civil forfeiture wouldn’t be able to do because she wouldn’t have the money, the police just took her money
I found a person's wallet, looked them up, and called them. They accused me of stealing it. I then informed the owner they could find their wallet in the same place i found it (in the middle of the parking lot). I left everything in the wallet (including the cash) and put it right back. The nerve of people.
That's why when I found a wallet with a lot of money and cards, I took it to the nearest police station. (The depressing part was that the cops several times congratulated me for being honest. My point of view was simply "It's not my money.")
If you stole it why tf would you call them to return it? People are so ignorant.
if there is ever a next time take the reward (the cash) leave the cards and post it tracked.
If you stole it than why would you call them in a effort to do the right thing and return it to them with all belongings still intact. I can't believe how incredibly stupid people can be as you're doing them a huge favor and I would guess they were looking to cause some trouble for you. Sometimes people suck!!!
Same thing happened to me twice. Once I found a wallet, 40 years ago, looked up the name, called them, and the mother of the 20 year-old wallet owner screamed at me when they met me that I mugged her and robbed her! Hey idiot lady! Why would I call you to return this, with all your money, if I just stole from you? Why can't those dumb bunnies just say, "Thank you!" Just plain dumb!
I lost my wallet during Christmas season, it had all my Xmas cash, I was a single parent, someone turned it in at the store, I am still grateful for that person.
Reminds me of a morning when I was putting a shopping cart up, found a pink purse, had ID, personal items, cash. Took it to the store manager.
Some of those store managers keep the money and then turn the purse or wallet in.😢@@happyclampopper
This is an entirely different situation. Obviously to find a personal wallet with everything in it will seriously disrupt an individual's life. It;s the honourable thing to do to return it to the owner.
Finding a "bag of cash" is not likely to be a personal loss... more like someone at Walmart or Home Depot dropped it on the way to the bank. Or even someone from one of the banks dropped it... or it was stolen in the first place. I would wait and scan the press for someone pleading for their "life savings" to be returned... then I would return it. If no one asked for it back within 30 days... it would be "Finders Keeper."
I found a wallet next to an empty, idling car once, right before xmess. The wallet had over $700 in it. The car was in front of the local post office, so I went in to the lobby there with the male owner's driver license and wallet in hand. I saw a panicked looking 30-something guy rapidly patting down his clothes. And then our eyes met, he saw me with his I.D. and bulging wallet. I handed the goods over to him and he gave me a $10 reward. I don't care about the holiday, but I'm glad he got his xmess bonus back so he and his family could have some joy. It made both our days. Another time, I found a wad of lotto tickets in a plastic lotto envelope, both scratch and draw games. There was no name attached, so I kept it. Out of the $175 total purchase price for all the tickets, I "won" $75 while someone else lost $175, poor soul. About a month ago, I found a wallet on one of the two public, outdoor pianos in my town. It had no cash, but it did have a local address on an I.D. and some credit cards. I mailed it back that day. I had met the 20-something owner a couple of times, as it turned out, another eccentric pianist. A few days later, I got a letter in the mail from a family member of the guy who lost his wallet. They were astounded that someone in this day and age would spend their own money to return the wallet. No reward, which was fine. I later saw the pianist again at the piano. He was happy to have his wallet returned, it arrived the next day, less than 24 hours after he had lost it. He was more happy to be playing the piano [which I had recently re-tuned, for free].
@@rae0521in either scenario you just posed, you'd still be a fucking thief! Not being able to instantly identify the owner of the money you found doesn't make it morally okay to take it!
He forgot to follow the non-criminal government procedure of suing the money itself and keeping when it cant prove its own innocence.
Nice one 😉
Hahaha
The money cannot prove it wasn't dropped by a drug dealer! Therefore, whoever found it gets to keep it.
As a Citizen you don't have standing, however, so the money would win because you couldn't state a valid claim. Only the government who has thus been injured by the illegal activity can pull that one off
😂😂😂
_Meanwhile in another part of the country_
"Police find $5,000 in back of man's car and keep it. No charges pending."
They check you for drug residue if any residue was found then forfeited
Civil asset forfeiture is absolutely horrible and must be outlawed.
@@eddiemunster4094 That's the Cops' oldest trick in the book. There are studies that show that up to 90% of banknotes contain traces of cocaine.
So the Cops know that if they test the banknotes, they are virtually guaranteed to find drug residue on them and can claim they are proceeds of a drug sale.
@@eddiemunster4094they don’t need to check for drugs they can take it just because they say it is suspicious..
Something very close to 99.400% of all paper currency will test positive for drug residue including your wallet if you have ever had any previously circulated bills in it. This is due to cross contamination and since all drug business is say cash and carry. If you place your brand new currency in your wallet now it is dirty too. If the cops want your paper currency they will take it.@@eddiemunster4094 Civil forfeiture is lawful grand theft and worse.
A similar thing happened in TX decades ago. Several children found a bag that contained something like $100k. They took to one of the boys house and they, along with a father, turned into the police. After 30 days the money hadn’t been claimed, and the families asked for the money. The police refused, saying it had been seized because the money was likely the proceeds of drug dealing. The families said they will never turn anything over to the police again.
Family: "We found this"
Police: "You found this?"
*Family leaves*
Police: "We found this"
Except the police were almost certainly correct, as no one engaged in legitimate commerce carries such quantities of cash. It was certainly evidence, so the police were right. As to not turning it in, that is evidence tampering.
I mean... what do you expect if you drop something off to the police as "lost"? You basically admit to them it never belonged to you to begin with.
Is there some kind of law I am unaware of regarding getting something back that goes unclaimed?
*edit* seems like it depends on the state as usual, upon looking into this
Just do the right thing. Do to others what you would hope they would do to you. If you lost some money would you hope the finders would keep it or make an effort to find the rightful owner. Karma baby.
and what exactly happens to the money when the "perpetratrors" are never caught? You guessed it..into various precinct pockets. I'd never turn any cash I'd found in to the police. Why should they get it? I'm the one who found it!
@@dancooper6002
I’m 62. Been a long distance cyclist for
50yrs. I basically look down all day. I’ve
Found probably 20 wallets and returned them. People are so happy.
Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit Court decided that two police officers in Fresno, California, who allegedly stole more than $225,000 in assets while executing a search warrant, could not be sued over the incident. Though "the City Officers ought to have recognized that the alleged theft was morally wrong," the unanimous 9th Circuit panel said, the officers "did not have clear notice that it violated the Fourth Amendment."
Should that not have been covered as part of training, in that theft is against the law?
@@SeanBZAEven if they Weren't trained, they Knew what they were doing.
They need Common Sense classes for them.@@JohnDoe-qz1ql
I think they have to have a similar case that’s already gone through the court system before they lose their qualified immunity. I might be mistaken. Either way, it’s disgusting and it’s the opposite of that supposed “higher standard” they’re always saying they’re held to.
Sue them under State not federal law. The property doesn't belong to them. It's conversion.
Cops steal $250,000? Qualified immunity!
Not QI; civil asset forfeiture
@@firefly4f4 Good try, but wouldn't they have been required to turn in the cash to their department or is there a new standard of Personal Qualified Enrichment Asset Forfeiture they've rolled out?
@@MtgCoach thats why I have the non profit called The TRS-Eric Foundation for Not Giving a Shit. All civil asset forfeitures go to my non profit.
@@firefly4f4 No, they were granted Qualified Immunity. They took it from their home in a search from a warrant. Warrants list items police can sieze.
QI covers shooting at you if you act suspiciously(like suddenly reaching for a bulky object in your belt), but it does NOT cover theft. The court decision was decided over lunch or dinner though.
I once lost my wallet with $1,600 cash in it inside a Target. I was relieved when they had it because I did not want to replace my credit and debit cards as well as my license. I was elated that every dollar was still there. Good people still exist.
Difference between insured bank money and your normal J o e earnings ……
@@MajinMist603 the money is not insured until it’s in the bank
Good people do exist, good cops do not.
Mate no one would want to return your wallet if there was money inside when you lost then suddenly there is not as no one wants to be accused of stealing
Who casually carries $1,600 in a target? That's the biggest mistake here
I was a private contractor paramedic in Iraq and Afghanistan for about 4 years. While in Tikrit (COB Speicher) I was heading into the DFAC (cafeteria) for dinner and I saw something on the ground in the entranceway. I bent down, picked it up and looked. To my surprise it was a very tight roll of money, $100 on the outside. I did not open the roll or count the money. I immediately took the cash to the DFAC guard on duty. I then spent about an hour retelling my story, writing a detailed report and repeatedly explaining that t did not steal anything. I was finally released and went to eat dinner. I promptly forgot about the incident. About 2 months later I was summoned to the MPs office and asked again about the money I turned in. I explained, again, exactly what happened. The Major I was speaking with said "Well, it's been 2 months and no one has claimed it or filed a report about missing money. So it's your lucky day! Take the roll and spend it on your next R&R." There was $1255 in that roll of cash. And my wife and I enjoyed every penny of it on vacation, lol.
The Major from the MPs was remarkable, too. Thank you for taking care of people who needed help.
How many MP offices would be so honest?
@@doreeneclose6295
It was all on written record.
Officers in Charge must make sure that they are satisfied before disbursing money..
When he asked you all the questions he had memorized your previous interview and he was making sure your story lined up the same the second time you gave it...to him.
Satisfied...he could hand over the money...to you.
@@doreeneclose6295 On that base, at that time, I would expect most of them. There was a lot of scrutiny on the military then, and COB Speicher was a pretty big base.
You are an honest man, and did the right thing. I'm sure the G - d knows it too.
I once found a wallet at a rest area with about $300 in it. There was also a drivers license in it so it was clear to me that it wasn't for me to keep. The owner actually came back looking for it after a few minutes.
Now if I had found $300 in a paper bag with no information about the owner, it would have been a different story.
when I was about 16 I found a wallet without any money in it. So I took it home and gave it to my dad, and he called the cops the to return to its rightful owner (the guy's ID and credit cards and pictures of kids were in it, hopefully HIS kids). When the cops came, no thanks or anything, they just grilled me about where all the cash was. I mean, nobody ever loses a wallet without at least a small fortune in bills, right?
When I was 11 back in 1992, I was on a cross country road trip with my family. At a rest stop, I walked across the grass towards the restroom and found a diamond ring in the grass. I put it in my pocket and didn't tell my parents. In the restroom, there was a man in there freaking out about losing his wife's engagement ring and his brother or friend consoling him because they looked all over the rest area and couldn't find it, and how they couldn't leave without finding it. I pulled the ring out and asked if this was it. His eyes lit up and said yes as he breathed a big sigh of relief. I gave him the ring and he said thank you many times and gave me $100 for finding it. $100 was a big deal for an 11 year old kid in 1992. I just kept the money and still didn't tell my parents what happened.
A large amount of cash in a paper bag, with no ID, could be a DRUG transaction. The Robot from "Lost in Space" would be flailing his arms!
@@jerradwilson Good work.
Similar thing happened to me about 40 years ago when I was swimming at a popular swimming hole: I saw something on the bottom and dove down to get it... turned out to be a wallet with about $200 inside. There was a driver's license so I looked at it and sure enough, the guy was right there nearby. He hadn't noticed his loss yet, and $200 was a ton of money for me at the age of 19...but I returned the wallet to his profuse thanks.
I found an envelope in the parking lot of my bank containing about $1500. I turned the money into the bank. A couple of hours later they called me and said they found the person who lost it. The money belonged to a woman who had withdrawn it to make repairs to her car. The bank told me when they informed her that the money was found she began to cry because she didn't know what she was going to do to get her car fixed. The feeling of doing a good deed was worth more than the money if I had kept it.
Bottom line is that while the man likely should not be charged with anything in regards to crime.... I look down on him for not controlling his greed. Bank bag dropped on ground right at the outside of the bank building, with official documents and all... and the man felt no obligation to return it?
Simply isn't right, but I still don't think the man deserves a charge. Now if he refused to return the money, that might be a different story altogether.
*edit* seems like it is actually against connecticut law to not make an attempt to return it, and larceny is the proper charge under connecticut law. His admission that he felt no obligation will bury him in court
often a good deed is its own reward, and they are the one you feel most good about.
yea can be.
I once found an envelope with about $2 000 in it in the passage of the university where I was working at that time. I immediately started asking around to see whom the money belonged to. (This was in a South American country). I was surprised when colleagues congratulate me on turning the money in. What would they have done? The look on the face of the student that had lost the money was reward enough!
Years ago I was waiting in line at the local ice cream shop and the people in front of me, a married couple had an accident, in that a 100 dollar bill fell out of his wallet when he was opening it to pay for their ice cream and they did not even notice. Had I not done the right thing they might have realized that they are 100 dollars short at home hours later. But I picked it up and told the guy who had no idea that it had happened and handed it back. He was thankful but his wife told him to pay for my sundae too. So I got a free ice cream sundae out of it that of course was worth much less than 100 dollars. But it felt good to be honest and honorable and that was worth more than the money. Had I kept it my self esteem would have gone down.
After 40 years of practising law-now retired: never, ever talk to the police without a lawyer, except name, rank and serial number. Period.
Or any Civil Service, Government Employee.
@@comfeefort Yup, you can only talk yourself in deeper. Anything you say that’s exculpatory cannot be used in court unless you testify, and then you open yourself up to cross-examination. You can only talk yourself into a jail cell, not out of it!
What do you say when the police pull your over for whatever and ask basic questions like "Where are you going?"
@@colt5189isn’t it fuggin obvious dude? It’s none of their business. “I don’t answer questions” is simple enough ever heard of the constitution ??? #5!!
They can ask you any question they think they can get away with. There is no requirement to answer any question despite what they will tell you.
I did this once when I found a bank envelope with $2500 cash in it. I however decided to go into the bank and tell them I found a large sum of money, gave them my contact info, and told them to contact me if someone reports it lost and can tell me the exact amount of cash and the color of the rubber band it had around it. there was no rubber band tho. The bank contacted me within a few hours and told me that a guy was there and had said he lost exactly $2500 but it was in an envelope and not in a rubber band. They were confused about the rubber band part but that was exactly what I was looking for. So I went back to the bank and returned the money. The man was very grateful and handed me $100 reward which I didn't even want but was really broke at the time so I accepted it.
Why would you not want $100 if you're broke? I can understand if you don't need the money but if you're broke...
Thats smart though, you wouldn't some some random person to overhear it and try and claim it as theirs.
@@roccov3614 As in they didn't expect a reward
@@roccov3614it's not that he didn't want money, it's that he didn't want a reward.
@@roccov3614 I meant that as I didn't want a reward.
A few years ago, I found some cash in an RV we rented. I was going through it before i returned it and found it in a little cubby hole in of the bunks. I called everyone that was on the trip and no one claimed it. When I returned the RV I asked if the previous renter had asked about something thry had lost or left behind. No one had called looking for it. So I told the rental place that I had found something and if anybody called, and could confirm what they lost, I'd be happy to return it. I held onto the money for 30 days, and it was never claimed.
This is how you have to do it here. If you turn it into the cops they follow this procedure and then keep the cash.
How did they find out about it?
@@maximusdarja The cops keep the cash?
@garymartin9777 in some cases police officers hold and return the cash. In other cases the police hold the money and then keep it.
@@garymartin9777 Yup. If the officer you hand it to bothers to turn it into the department, the department keeps it, but individual officers have the option to just ...not. Then they wait 30 days and keep it.
I found $400 at Starbucks. Honest fool that I am I turned it over to the barista. A short while later a woman came in and thanked me, gave me a coffee and $10.00 for my honesty. She looked so much like the barista she could have been her mother.
Almost certainly was her mother. Thank you for being an honest sucker. 😉👍
You are a good human and did what I’d hope someone would do for me if I were in that situation. That might have been her rent for all we know.
You did the right thing. Helped out someone who was careless.
Not a fool... Just an honest person, plus it seems that you got ~$20 worth of gifts instead of possibly a criminal record.
@@interstellarsurfer already buying stuff at starbucks. so already a sucker. )
I found $700 cash in a parking spot in a local shopping area. It was in an envelope and had been there for a while because it had tire tracks on it.
The only thing inside the envelope besides the money was a hardly legible bank deposit slip. I knew that it had to be one of the merchants in the area. I worked very hard to find out who it belonged to. I returned it to the owner of the store. One of her employees had dropped it on the way to the bank. She was so grateful that I actually returned the money, she insisted on giving me $100. I graciously accepted it.
😊❤️👍
What’s with people losing bank deposits and not noticing it when they get to the bank and discover they don’t have it? Do they just shrug “oh well” and leave? Don’t they go out and retrace their steps to find it?
I laughed out loud when I heard that it was "tax funds." OF COURSE they'd say it was a crime!!! If it was someone else's money the city wouldn't care. But it's theirs and they have the power to punish you for not turning it in...it's different when it's *their* money.
My newest saying is this: "Anyone who says money is the root of all evil has never met a lawyer."
That misquote is common.
It's the *want* of money (i.e. greed) that's the root of all evil.
Yeah like how they "can't do anything until he does something" about stalking and lesser violence but it's assault if cops beat you up and you get blood on their uniform
Sorry it was destruction of property (Henry Davis, Ferguson, MO)
@@anthonyegreene You are also misquoting 1 Timothy 6:10. It's actually "the love of money is the root of all evil" that would mean greed (some translations also say desire for money). Saying "the want of money" would mean the lack of money is the root of all evil (which is pretty true too though). It's like the proverb about "for want of a nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the rider was lost, etc etc." or like the saying "you have been found wanting." It's not saying the desire for a nail, it's the lack of a nail, just like it's not saying "found desiring" but "found lacking".
@@anthonyegreeneNaw. Everyone wants it. It's a problem if you _love_ it.
Only reason he got charged was cuz it was tax money. If it was private they wouldn’t care
I think you're right!
No. He got charged because he took money that didn't belong to him. The bag was clearly labeled with the bank logo and inside was the owners information. All he had to do was walk it back into the bank and hand it to the manager. But he chose to take it instead. That's why he was charged.
The larceny charge will likely not stick, but what's more infuriating to me is the fact that if you or I lost money, the police wouldn't even come out to take a report for that, let alone "investigate" a damn thing. Personally, I am curious if he came forward or they actually were able to track it down. My guess is that he no longer has the money or refuses to return it, hence the charge.
What gets me is someone, probably tax payers, are going to pay more then the 5k to investigate and run this through the legal system.
@@idaikiyeah unfortunately you're right about that. But the cops do crazy things like that all the time. They destroyed a woman's house because a shoplifter ran in before. And she wasn't even the criminal! And when she asked for money to fix the $60,000 in damage they did to her house the cops were like too bad so sad
Lost my phone, fell out of pocket as I got into friend's car at store. Video surveillance shows someone else walking over after we drove away, picking up my phone then used my phone to access cash app and sent himself my balance ($164). I called cops, told them about video, guy has been in jail the last couple of months. Some cops do their jobs
no, you did their job! if they had to do it, absent everything you had, they would not have looked into it for 1 second!
@@kevinkelly3481
@@kevinkelly3481I am repeatedly amazed at the number of people who don't keep their phone locked. Especially if it has immediate access to their money. 🤷🏾♂️
No matter what jurisdiction you live in, the "authorities" will find a way to prosecute you for almost anything.
We have buildings full of thousands of volumes of LAWS and given enough time and reason, someone will find one of them to use against you.
Warren Buffet should have told this one to Trump too...
"Show me the man and I'll show you the crime"
Its like bible versus
Guarantee as a private citizen if you misplace $5k, you will be laughed out of court for trying to sue whoever finds it.
Not if there were identifying documents with the money. Or did you miss that part of Steve's video?
@@stischer47 honestly, id bet you still would be laughed out of the court. only reason this is happening is cause its the government money it stole from people. gov don't like competition.
guarantee you're wrong. There's protocol for what you're supposed to do if you find lost items or money, and just taking it is not that.
Now, if the cops found it and siezed it as evidence, you can kiss it goodbye because you're never seeing it again.
That's not true... You are only "laughed out of court" If you cannot provide a valid legal claim with good evidence.
Someone takes your $5K will give a few options, so as long as you can prove what happened and that it fits a claim (Such as unjust enrichment, or recovery of personal property), then you're good.
Dirt bags will be dirt bags
If it wasn’t the ‘tax’ money…it would have been a civil case!!!
It's in a bank bag, he's lucky it's not a federal case of bank robbery and destruction of banking instruments for the checks. I'm not saying that's right, just that he could be facing way more charges here with a locked bank bag in the bank parking lot.
@@mattgayda2840 here’s the thing though, we are going by what the town says, with the other procedures that apparently didn’t happen, it comes into question if there WAS any other documentation in the bag.🤷♂️
@@calebvalesko36 it was a locked bank bag in the bank parking lot and he's on video, their policy violations mean nothing besides the normal public servants abusing taxpayers without consequences.
Wouldn't have been any case
@@mattgayda2840are we sure it was a "locked" bank bag? I will admit that would make alot of difference here. But unfortunately from the facts I heard Steve say this would then be some sort of violation from the bank not the town.
And even then it would be highly dependent if this was a generic deposit bag or a bag issued by the bank that essentially is still bank property.
If the cops found the cash they would keep it and seize it under civil asset forfeiture. A bs reason suspicious the bag was dropped.
Exactly, the cops were just mad they didn't get to steal it first, and even if the guy had turned it in to the police, they would have stolen it under civil asset forfeiture.
If you find it, turn it in, and no one claims it, the cops still may keep it.
No they would not. The cops would have to post a legal advertisement that it was found and people would usually have 30 days to claim it. We have some crooked cops but by far the majority are hard working good people who put their lives on the line to help people.
@@daviddesmond2143 The crooked cops are protected by so called "good cops" which makes them more evil as they are in a position to do something about them, and refuse.
@@daviddesmond2143 Thank you. This channel (including Steve) has become more of a slant against law enforcement than when I first started listening. Too bad, I think Steve was doing a great job sticking to general idiots who did stupid stuff (and yes, that includes cops on a few occasions but not disproportionately).
I learned my lesson before. I found $800 in the parking lot of a Harris Teeter grocery store. I am a rep that goes to stores and knew the employees. I handed it over to the store manager bc I know how if feels taking a loss like that and tried to do the right thing, learned real quick not to do that again like I did. I asked about the money every week and turned out the store kept the money. I’ll never do that again.
Negative reinforcement is as strong as positive.
Since this was lost tax revenue, the actual charge should have been "possession of stolen property" 😂
Aaaaaaaahahaha
I like your humor.
I just commented can you steal stolen property? 😂
I see what you did there.
😎
As a teenager (during late 2000s) working for a gas station I found a $100 bill while sweeping the parking lot and when I bragged about it later the GM reported me to HR and I was told to surrender it to the company since I found it on company property while on the clock. I refused and was wrote up over it and a few months later I was fired for "poor performance"
Best thing that ever happened to you. 👍
I would have no moral issue if you had kept the money and kept quiet.
However, imagine you hired some landscapers, and they found $100 bill in your backyard, and they bragged to you about finding it in your yard. Would you see the situation the same way?
@@kirke420 Well, no, since I probably didn't lose a $100 bill in my backyard, and there shouldn't be anybody back there thats losing $100. It would be concerning. If it were just in the cul-de-sac, it'd be more comparable, and I wouldn't care.
@@kirke420 There is such a thing as wind?
@@kirke420 So if a $100 bill gets blown into my yard and a landscaper finds it should he turn it over to me?
Years ago I bought a jacket for $5 at a thrift store. When i got it home i found $1000 in it.
Their policy was clear that you are buying it "as is... no refunds".
If there was a stain added to the item then I own the stain.
It is no different than if there is money added to it.
auctions work the same way, you basically won the lottery. You did the right thing keeping it, they would have never found the rightful owner of that money.
In that case yes, too hard to find rightful owner. But, in this case the money was in a bank bag in the bank’s parking lot!
Once was at a Salvation Army, tried on a jacket when I felt something in a pocket. Reached in, and pulled out like $35... not as awesome as your find, but still pretty cool.
In your logic, if you sold your used dresser on Craigslist and forgot to take out the diamond ring your grandparents had given you, then you should no legal right to take it back, right?
In the case of a thrift store, they also don't have the legal right to keep the money either. The thrift shop should turn the money in to the police in case the original owner of the jacket is looking for the money.
@@onespeedlite IMO cash (at least, up to a point) is a little bit trickier than that, especially in the context of a thrift store where an item of clothing might not have ANY identifying piece of information attached to it regarding its previous owner.
His real crime was embarrassing public officials.
Can you imagine what'd happen if the guy was pulled over on his way home and the police seized the funds (now separated from the ownership evidence) for a civil asset forfeiture? The city would want the fungible funds back from the man, the police would have turned over the funds to the federal government as part of their normal hot potato shtick, the man would have no ability to get the funds back from the police since they actually weren't his. It could become a ridiculous mess to unroll.
Well... if someone comes after you and says, "you found my money, hand it back". You can just say you handed it over to the police. Take it up with them.
After all, if you find something valuable, handing it over to the police is a legitimate action you could take.
@@roccov3614 I wonder if this would make a good movie plot.
"Give me back my money. Jim Smith handed the money over to you."
"He didn't hand over the money, we seized that money, it was suspected to be the profits of a crime."
"Great, the crime was it had been stolen from me. I'm glad you're prosecuting him. When can I get my money back?"
"Uh... we didn't prosecute him. We sued the money in court. It's ours now, a judge ruled on it and everything. Smith even signed something saying he wouldn't contest it. Quite magnimonious of him, they almost never do that."
"Say what now? That's my money! Give me back my money."
"Oooh, sorry, the federal government has it now..."
Democracy is wonderful isn’t it
I have yet to hear an attorney give this advice, either to their clients, or to a general audience: "Go ahead and talk to the cops without the presence of an attorney. There is no possible way anything could go wrong, so don't worry about it."
Not exactly the same, but I remember an old guy telling me a story once where he found a wallet, with no I.D., credit cards, etc. but some cash in the middle of a street in our college town. Goes to turn it in to the police. They start the 20 questions routine. After 15 minutes, after asking him everything but his shoe size, "What's your Social Security number?" At that point, since it was now past Midnight, the guy (and most of that town knew) there was only one cop on duty at the station, and they couldn't leave the office behind the security window, the guy said "Screw this!" and started walking away. "Hey, you can't leave!" "Am I under arrest?" "No - but where do you think you're going with that wallet?" "To the exact location I told you I found it. I'm going to leave it there. You want it, call a patrol car to pick it up - I through with your BS!"
No good dead goes unpunished.
Great story and the moral is to leave it where it is or keep it. Getting "involved" always has the potential of getting you screwed.
@@jenkinsljenkinssquire9137 whenever a police officer starts asking you questions and you are NOT under arrest or officially under investigation tell him that if he wants to ask you more questions he must read you your rights AND arrest you and even then you will need to be provided with a lawyer. Then he HAS to back down if he has nothing on you.
@@Zurround
My dad, who was a cop, told me to never tell the police anything.
@@oORiseAboveOo I wonder how low his self esteem would be, to be PART of an organization that EVEN HE DOES NOT TRUST, but he is RIGHT.
It is a shame that police can claim qualified immunity and civil asset forfeiture, but a private citizen is held to a higher standard to follow obscure laws.
They should consider it fruit of the poisonous tree from their unfollowed policy. Lol. At what point are they going to be accountable for their own incompetence? I made hundreds of deposits and never lost one, without an escort.
There is nothing obscure about this. Anytime you find property you know is not yours, you may not keep it.
The guy should have just kept his mouth shut about the money and not told anyone. And gotten rid of the bag.
He should demand the bank proves the money was not out doing something nefarious at the moment of apprehension.
@@alanmcentee9457 Tell that to federal, local, and state police! They “find” cash all the time and take it without any charges or warrants.
What law states that you cant find something on the street and keep it? Is this law taught in civics class in school if it does even exist?
"Obscure law"? LOL! It's called "common sense" to any normal person.
Yeah, about that return thing. Years ago I found an antique cash register on the side of a forested road and called the police. The officer who responded picked it up, along with the money in it (not counted), wrote a report, and took it with him. Before he left, I asked what would happen if they didn't find the owner and he said it would be returned to me within 60 days if I called about it. Hah! LOL! When I called weeks later, there was no report, no cash register, no nothing. Nobody knew anything about it. And I had found the small store it likely was stolen from but they had not been contacted by the police. So..... In all fairness, though, in a case like this I would still be inclined to return the money to the bank because of the marked bag and identifying receipts inside, but would take pics of contents, get a news camera crew to pick up the story, and have the bank sign a release. Just to keep everybody "honest." Good luck to that guy.
Words of wisdom.....
Failing to notice any identifiable items or the bank name on the bag due to being so focused on the money that was in the bag reminded me of the cops who failed to notice the train tracks the cruiser was parked on.
I don't want to remember that video...
I wonder what happened in that case or should I say shit show
You mean the cruiser they locked the suspect in?
@@heroslippy6666 The woman that was locked in it doesn't remember according to her lawyer.
The guy wasn't brought up right. I wonder how many bicycles and other unattended property he's "found" in his life. It was in a bank bag in a bank parking lot. It obviously belonged to someone.
Exactly. And they’ll be contacting that bank about it. So it will be easy for it to be returned to the owner.
Thank you. Those of us raised to be honest and who have some empathy ("how would I feel if I lost 5k") sure are a dying breed.
Yea a random twenty dollar you find on an empty street, obviously belong to someone. It's not a question if he stole it. Because he didn't , it's a question of if it was reasonable that he saw anything that would lead him to suspect that he could locate the owner. Because you know if you turn anything in to the police without knowing who owns the thing, the best thing that could happen is that is sits in a evidence locker forever. The worst thing that probably happens more often is that in ends up in their pockets, " thank you for the delivery, as thanks we might just hassle you for no reason, pray that we don't charge you with a crime and you better not ask about it again, because tonight I'm getting steak".
Now if there actually were documents in the bag that points in the right direction, and the bag had some sort of logo or writing that matches the bank. He has no excuse. But it's still too much to charge him with larceny. All he has to do is return the documents,bag and the cash. If he spent it then he owes them.
Turns out “Finder’s, Keepers” is not a constitutionally protected right. Amendment 28?
Only for cops apparently.
He should have claimed it under the laws of maritime salvage.
He was simply removing the subject that was impeding the flow of traffic
“Dibs” should also be there
It might be in some jurisdictions, depending on the nature of the property (Mislaid? Lost? Abandoned?)
Steve , I love watching your videos... Your NOT picking up anything less than a dime reminded me of this... In my mothers last moments here on earth she looked at me and said, " start looking for pennies". Years before her death she told me that I would know when she was watching over me because she would leave a penny. I haven't passed up a penny since.
Tell me you're jewish without telling me you're jewish.
I once found $1,200 in a bank deposit bag. There were no recipients or identifying papers in it. I was outside a Burlington Coat Factory so I took it into the store and turned it in. I was met with a frazzled manager that had lost the money and was grateful to have it back. I too thought it was my lucky day but common sense told me it would probably not be a good idea to just keep the money. If I had however, I would not have spoken to the cops.
The right thing to do is turn it in. This story is upsetting because the town would never help an average citizen get back lost money. But since it was the city, they used every resource they had to get the money back. Probably spent well over the amount lost just on the detectives that spent months investigating 😂
here are cameras everywhere, especially banks.
@@FRANKHDIETRICH Makes me tempted to put $20 in a bag marked with my name, with a filled out deposit slip, and drop it on the floor of that bank.
Maybe linger nearby with a video camera.
Would the police charge someone who picked it up and kept it? Would the bank deposit it according to the deposit slip if they found that on the floor of their lobby? Would the bank get in trouble if they didn't?
Somehow I doubt it.
so they had no proof the money was theirs, but they didnt turn it down.? did they even look? it took you less than a minute to find them but they were unable to find the money? or were they so inept they didnt realize yet that they had thrown all that money away? or was the amount so small do them that they didnt bother looking?
Yep.@@bergmanoswell879
"A person who comes into control of property of another that he knows to have been lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake as to the nature or amount of the property or the identity of the recipient is guilty of larceny if, with purpose to deprive the owner thereof, he fails to take reasonable measures to restore the property to a person entitled to it." CT Gen Stat § 53a-119 (4). (2022)
THANK YOU!
Steve, you should hire this Duck.
My younger brother was walking to the corner market and spotted a ladies wallet in the ditch. Apparently she had left on her roof after pumping gas. When he got to the market he alerted the clerk he'd found it. She opened the wallet to find the name of the owner and also saw 5. $100 bills. She broke one into $20s and put it back in the wallet. The lady came back, thanked and praised my brother then lamented the fact she only had hundreds. She burst out laughing when she saw the $20s and gave my brother a C-note instead.
This is definitely a great reason why I love reading the comments. Thank you for this story
What's a C note?
C is Roman Numeral for 100.
C Note is a $100 bill.
@@jayess7873 Gotcha
@@justme5384 $100 bill
That person who was responsible for the "tax funds" should be fired and the guy who found the money it's his to keep
Connecticut General Statutes (C.G.S.) § 53a-119 Larceny defined. A person commits larceny when, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner. If you find something that doesn't belong to you and keep it, that's theft
Steve,
It happened to me.
I was making a deposit at a bank and when I left I found cash and checks blowing away on the ground.
I took them in to the bank and asked if anyone had lost them.
Some guy in a suit said yes and grabbed them out of my hand
without even a thanks.
Obviously he was embarrassed, but I thought as I left that I should have let the damn stuff
blow away.
Cheers,
Rik Spector
wow how ungrateful!
One of those situations where someonw is so stressed they're not acting eight.
I did thw same thing when i lwft my wallet on a payphone in the seatle airport, had to dig out a calling card. Then walked off.
Realized it walked back and a kid was taking it into the store.
I was in a rush and always regret not spwnding morw timw with the kid.
I did say thank you
Thats where you pull it back and say "hang on there a second, how do I know its yours. Tell me where the checks are from". If he can't tell you, call the cops and let them figure it out.
We do the right thing because of who we are, not because of who the other person is. Their reaction is not relevant.
The last time I found a large sum of money in a parking lot, I had the customer service person count the money under the camera. On the way out of the store I seen the driver of the car that the money was sitting by and asked the driver if they were missing any money, the lady looked in her purse and said "I'm missing a lot of money" then I told her to go inside and tell customer service how much money is missing.
Thank you for your tip to the underpaid customer service worker. 👍
No, you **SAW** the driver. This plague of bad verbiage and grammar is a massive problem
@@mattgayda2840 Ah yes, the grammar nazis are out. This is the best you can do, Adolph?
@@mattgayda2840 Another massive problem, too many word police.
@@stischer47 part of me wants to edit my post. Then part of me wants to promote weird AL "word crimes".
Kind of happened to me years ago, but differently. Days before one Christmas, I found a $100 bill in the parking lot of my local market’s strip mall. I went into the market, and asked the ‘managet’ if anyone had reported the loss. He said, no, but insisted I give him the bill. I said no way. He got ornery, but I stood firm. All I could think of was some innocent teenager that had been given the bill from his grandparents for a birthday and he’d planned to spend it on loved ones for Christmas. So I took the bill directly to our local police station to add to their ‘found box.’ One year later, the police sent me a letter, saying because no one had claimed it, that it was mine to come in and pickup. I went to the station and told them to put it toward their charitable causes. They looked at me like I had 3 heads. Apparently it had never happened before.
Great story. $100 windfall is nice, but you had to feel even better about how you handled it.
Bet the police could not believe their luck at snagging $100 for their pockets.
@@bobcoats2708 I hear you, but it didn’t. The whole thing left me feeling unresolved. That money must have meant something to somebody. If not a teenager than maybe an elderly person who’d just gotten off the Council on Aging bus for their once-a-week grocery shopping.
@@jayjaynella4539 You mean to buy their margaritaville machine for the break room
@@FR-tb7xh Sorry to hear that. Sounds like you did the best you could under the circumstances.
Let's be honest, we all know the only reason he's being charged is because of the incompetence of the government employees and the police. If any civilian made a police report about dropping or misplacing a money bag, they'd probably just get a "well maybe you should've been more careful with your money." Government employees just can't take responsibility. They gotta drag a guy down to take attention away from their own failure.
The incompetence of the tax official to leave money on the ground. This is hilarious
Went into the bank, didn't have the money, and .. left ? Without searching the parking lot ?
Or maybe they were queuing in the bank and hadn't noticed it's missing yet.
@@TimoRutanen Most likely they were supposed to put it in the bank deposit box. Which means it was probably there from the night before.
Some 25 years ago, I remember reading a story where a guy returned an unused portion of toothpaste to a big company for his refund as a dissatisfied customer. When they went to issue is $3 refund, a clerical error ensued and some entered his zip code as the dollar amount. As this happened to be in California, it ended up being like 90k. The guy cashed the check and skipped town. 😂
LEGEND!!!
Can't blame him.
They got what they wanted. He was quite satisfied after they sent him that check.
@@_PatrickO I sent a tube of lube I wasn't happy with back to to the store. Good lube is the best with a left-handed twisty and it'll pop right off.
Do you remember reading/watching "Robin Hood?"
The Sheriff would have had their head on a pole for this gross incompetence (or conspiring of these two.)
Alternatively, the King would cover their appointee with a twist on the truth and vilify a lowly peasant.
Which do you think it is?
He could tell them he thought the money was being used for drugs so he kept it to protect society and let them sue him to get the money back and prove the money is actually theirs.
That only works when you have a badge, unfortunately.
@@interstellarsurfer But what happens if he hires a drug sniffing dog and the dog responds? Then you contact another police dept. with jurisdiction and claim you found drug money. You don't get the money, but the intra-gov't fighting will be epic.
@@chrislutz416pretty funny joke .
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED - If you find a lot of money. Don't tell the police.
Uh.... I don't think that was the lesson. I think the lesson was, if you find money in the bank parking lot, in a bank deposit bag, with a deposit slip inside, you might want to think twice about taking it if your state has a law that defines keeping money you find laying on the ground as theft, because banks have cameras everywhere. But I guess these sorts of "differences of opinion" are how people get themselves into these kinds of messes.
This is the opposite of the lesson
If you find ANYTHING, it is not yours. In many jurisdictions, you have an obligation to search for the owner and return it. Also, if you give it to the "wrong" person (i.e., not the owner, but someone else), you can be held liable for the loss. [And that goes for giving it to the police, too.]
Your best bet is to keep it and not tell anyone else what it is or what's in it. Then put out the word that you found something, but don't give it to anyone unless they can identify it in some way that is satisfactory to you.
The fact that it had identifying information inside the bag and he still took it is wrong and shows intent.
No it doesn’t.
@@joshuastanton6731yes it does.
I can't say I know what the law is about this, but ethically, if there is identifying information, returning it to the owner is the right thing to do. In the absence of any identifying information, I'd be inclined to keep the money and keep my mouth shut.
@@joshuastanton6731yeah it does
@@russlehman2070 given that the identifying info labeled it as tax revenue, I’d ethically keep some as s finder’s fee. It’s partly my money anyway after all.
Steve is right about one thing, he really shouldn't talked to the police without consel. I had jury duty earlier this month. In that case, 2 guys got into an argument over money, a gun came into play, and one guy got shot. How'd the police turn the investigation? The defendant told the cops that he'd grabbed the gun and thrown it away because he didn't want his prints on it.
Today it seems that even if your innocent, heck possibly even the victim in some cases, it's may be best to have legal counsel before answering questions. It may seem strange but it you never know what the Cops or DA agenda will be towards any issues that may arise. Things may be a self defense in the eyes of most people, but the authorities may have ideologies that don't see things in that manner.
@@darcam Nobody needs a lawyer to know you always remain silent.
@@marcuslinton310
Granted, but remaining silent doesn't mean you won't be arrested and hauled of to jail and then to court. So in some point in that process you'll need or want to have legal counsel. I don't believe just sitting in court saying nothing during your trial with no one representing you except the air will help much.
@@darcam You literally said "best to have legal counsel before answering questions".
So exactly when are these questions being asked that you reference?
Because I doubt the police are going to wait around for your attorney to show up while at your door asking questions. No legit attorney is going to even dish out advice on what to say if you cold call them about a situation, other then to remain silent. So, you either talk or remain silent, which is it? Again, I don't need a lawyer at this point to tell me to remain silent.
This is usually the scenario where people try and talk their way out of being arrested, which isn't very smart and you end up arrested anyway. Simple, innocent remarks are always twisted against you, everything gets twisted, turned, and mangled to end up against you.
Now, once you end up in custody for whatever reason, well... DUH! Call a lawyer. But up until you are officially arrested, don't answer jack squat, not even if you're just invited down to the station for a voluntary chat.
@@darcamif you never tell anyone, absolutely never speak of the money, tuck it away and spend it slowly, the police will not ever know you found it. If they ask, say I would love to find some money that easy. I have to work for mine. Y'all have a good day and good luck with your investigation.
To me, if there’s no identifying documents as to who the owner is, then if you were to ask the first person who you saw, they’d likely say it was theirs. Because of that likelihood, it might as well be yours. But it f it said the name or organization that it belonged to… I would honestly feel guilty about keeping it. Same with a $100 bill you find on the sidewalk. If you didn’t see someone drop it and there’s no name connected to it, it is not wrong to keep it. But if you then saw an old lady frantically looking around for it, I would also return it to her.
That's exactly what I would do, and that would be the right thing to do.😊
You ask them how much they lost. If they give you a precise amount, it is likely theirs.
Just because someone dropped an item does not mean they immediately lose ownership of it. A lot of places have laws requiring you to turn lost items you find in to the police. If it's not collected by the owner within a certain period of time, it becomes yours. But if you don't turn it in to the police and just keep it, it becomes theft.
Years ago After withdrawing $1200 from my bank for my rent in a Walmart. I grabbed a few things out of the grocery store and went to my car. I put my pocketbook on my car as I put my groceries in the backseat, well I drove off with it on top of my car. I made it all the way home and screamed when I noticed I didn’t have it. I sped so fast back to Walmart, ran inside with tears in my eyes asking the customer service desk if anyone turned it in. While standing there waiting on an answer a woman walks in with my pocketbook and says “someone lost this”. She said she found it in the parking lot. Thankfully everything was still in it, I hugged her so tight and thanked her, I can’t tell you the relief I had when she walked in with it. I offered to give her $20 cause I was a lil hard up on money and couldn’t give much, but she said she didn’t want my money, God just had her in the right place at the right time.
Years ago around Christmas time I found a wallet in a parking lot and when I opened it I looked at the ID to see who the owner was and saw that there was a decent amount of money. Didn't touch the money or credit cards. The next day I brought it to the police station where the person lived. I was about to leave the station and they asked if I wanted to leave my information in case they wanted to thank me, which I did. A few days later when I came home there was a gift bag hanging from my door knob. It contained a quaint Santa Claus and a bottle of wine and a lovely thank you card. It made my day.
Who lives at the police station?
@@highschoolbigshotThe police station.... of the town or city in which the person who lost the wallet lived. You know, because that info was on the I.D. in the wallet that was lost.
@@highschoolbigshot LOL. I had to read it twice. They mean at the police station local to the person who lost the wallet.
If this hadn't been tax money from the city I don't think they would have even done anything about it
If the owner came forward with their explanation...yes they would have.
From the Connecticut statute on larceny:
Acquiring property lost, mislaid or delivered by mistake. A person who comes into control of property of another that he knows to have been lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake as to the nature or amount of the property or the identity of the recipient is guilty of larceny if, with purpose to deprive the owner thereof, he fails to take reasonable measures to restore the property to a person entitled to it.
So, since the bag had the bank logo on it, you can probably easily convince a jury that it would have been reasonable to turn the bag into the bank.
Steve’s right, he needed an attorney present before he talked to the cops.
Nice work.
"Steve’s right, he needed an attorney present before he talked to the cops." Or, he shouldn't have taken something that wasn't his.
Yea, it would seem he buried himself by saying he felt no obligation to return it, when in reality the law required him to act whether he felt that way or not
@@KokotTheMonkeyFinders keepers
So, if you can tell who it belongs to, then turn it in. If you can't tell, then keep a tight lip..and the money.
Personally, If I would have seen the bank logo, I would have brought the bag to the bank and let them figure it out.
Logo or not, I would have taken it inside. It was found in the bank parking lot, not a random spot on the city street.
Steve, I had a similar occurrence in a bank parking lot a number of years ago. I found 5 loose twenties by my car as I was leaving. (At that time $100 represented real money.) I went back in the bank and asked if anyone had reported losing any cash. They replied no report of lost money. I left my name and phone no, but was never contacted by anyone.
In college, I found a purse in my front yard. I went through it and found money, cards and an ID. I called her and left a message, then called the police. The police came then she came storming up accusing me of stealing it. The cops read her the riot act explaining that no one would steal a purse, call the police and the person and return 8t with all the money.
Should have cited her for disorderly conduct
Had a boss that would leave a fake lost wallet out with $50 at job interviews as an honesty and integrity test only 1 in 5 would return it. Those that returned it always got hired no matter their skill set and an extra $5 an hour of what was posted on the job listing. I loved that Job and that boss. He still has a successful business. because he knows who he can trust.
In many jurisdictions, you are supposed to turn found property in to the police and get a receipt. If no one claims it after a period of time, you get to keep it.
No thanks. Walking into a police station is a great way to get tased, pepper sprayed, and stomped on the back of the head while in cuffs.
We know who will to keep it, the blue line brotherhood
Keep it? That's before police steal it.
While at the bank drive-thru, the person ahead of me left an envelope of cash in the vessel, which I promptly returned, along with my deposit. There were no cameras, so while a person could have deniability and act as though the money wasn't in there, I could never in good conscience steal something that is not mine.
Good work !
You are a great American.
my thought is that if the owner could be found it should be returned but a stray bill or a large sum that was likely ill gotten is fair gasme
Yes, but you saw that person.
@@insideoutsideupsidedown2218 There was nobody there when I drove up, just a fat wad of money in the container. There is no way that I could take anything that was not mine, regardless of the circumstances.
We need to blame the city's employee for misplacing the bag in the first place. Surely, the employee noticed straight away when you dropped the bag .now, long was the bag just lying there .
I live in CT, but I am guessing the bank was BoA. And the employee is a union employee so nothing will happen to her.
Yeah! Blaming the victim! that is ALWAYS the way to make people think you are intelligent and worthy of talking to!
Dude using the parroted and useless phrase of "victim blaming" is a sure fire way to make YOU not worthy to talk to.@@FUGP72
City employees have qualified immunity.
@@FUGP72 if the employee did not lose the bag of tax payer money in the first place this would never had happened and this man would not been change.
I went into a gas station the other day to use the restroom first before filling up. The restroom was “out of order.” This is a reason why I always go in first before giving them my business. I saw a folded up $20 bill on the floor and before anyone else who spotted it could pick it up I did. I could have given it to the cashier of course….but I didn’t. Made it worth holding my bladder for another stop.
most likely they would have put it in their pocket. That's why I keep found money that is completely "anonymous".
My daughter (10 at the time) found a little change purse with $300 and no ID in it. I left a note in the bag with my cell number, held onto the $300, and turned it into the counter at the fast food place.
The owner called me 2 weeks later and we met up to return the money.
Good work ! You are teaching your daughter well.
The way the guy answered the questions indicates he knew damned well where it was supposed to go, but at the same time...I have a hard time feeling sorry for the person who lost the 'city funds'.
When I was a child, I clearly remember my parents telling us, if you find a quarter or a dollar laying in the street with no one around, that's okay to pocket. Anything more, you need to look around and ask to see who may have dropped it. If you happened to find something really valuable that's apparently abandoned, you call the police. I know it rare these days, but some places the police will return it to you if it is left unclaimed long enough.
No they won't - they'll seize it with civil asset forfeiture (so they can buy a margaritaville machine for the break room) - and if you take it there personally, they'll likely shake you down for any cash or valuables you have on you at the time too.
they are more likely to keep it 😅
The police will keeop it and tell you it was drug money which they can keep without proof.
@@keithfreitas2983and then charge you for it
@@keithfreitas2983
Police will even take money they see you just pulled out of a bank today, and call it drug money.
Though if you are here on Steve’s channel you know that.
Had this happen once, it was a bank bag with 7000+ in cash plus credit card receipts. That it had the receipts in it made it easy to find the buisness that owned it and thr manager was extremely happy to get it back. Apperently it was supposed to be deposited in the bank and and the assistant manager left it on their car while taking a phone call. Ooof.😂
I thought it was fairly common knowledge that if you find something of great value on the street, you need to make an attempt to return it to the owner before you get to keep it
That's right
Common knowledge isn’t the law.
I do not think "common knowledge" should ever be used as a measure because it is something not built into your DNA when you are born.
Your parents had to raise you and pass on the "common knowledge".
I just read 53a-119 where Larceny is defined in Connecticut; it seems the extortion part is just one of the many things they can get you for on larceny, and not a requirement. They would probably go after him for part "(4) Acquiring property lost, mislaid or delivered by mistake."
Steve, when you started telling the story I had to laugh as I was thinking about the cops taking money found in a traffic stop or airport 😂😂😂
Yes, if the govt does it it's perfectly fine. If a citizen does it it's a crime. When will the American people take their nation back??
When I was a teen I found a briefcase. It was locked I dropped it off at the police department. Months later I was sent $20 in the mail from the owner. I look at things like this "its not mine" and not mine to keep. Doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. Later in my 20's I lost $1500 in the bank and lucky for me the lady that found it turned it in. The teller knew I had lost it and contacted me.
When I was a kid there were times that people would find a duffel bag of cash in the middle of the wilderness (usually during deer season), sometimes hanging from a tree. It was hotly debated if the smart thing to do was to just leave the obvious drug money where you found it, haul it out and throw it in the back of your vehicle, or hide it someplace and go get it later.
Absolutely nobody was of the opinion that you should let the government know the slightest thing about it, or deposit it into your bank account. Most people were of the opinion that, depending on how long it looked like it had been out there and how many witnesses might be around, to either haul it out ASAP or hide it to recover later when there were fewer people that might notice.
Have you not seen the movie “No Country for Old Men”!!
@@pamelaanis715 That came out a lot later, but that general scenario was why a lot of people said to just leave it.
Was it in Washington state, just north of Portland? I understand somebody jumped out of a 727 and hasn't seen his money since.
@@pamelaanis715 Take the money out of the bag, leave the bag ripped open to suggest the contents crop-sprayed as it fell
🤣
"Finders keepers" only applies when you cannot find out who the owner is.
Any money not on your person, in your house, luggage, or car is up for grabs.
@@user-tb7rn1il3q "finders keepers" only applies until you're old enough to be arrested for "theft by unauthorized taking."
This just happened to my girlfriend yesterday.
She went to the bank on lunch to deposit some cash.the bank was very busy both inside the bank and the druve thru.
15 minutes later, while she was in a store, she got an alert for a second deposit.
Seems like someone elses money might have gotten deposited by accident.
She called that branch twice, and a nearby branch no answer.
I told her call them again and leave a message but don't touch the money.
Probably hear more about it later today.
I was little and my mom and dad would let me go into the post office to get the mail. There was a $20 bill on the sidewalk so I ran up to the nearest person and asked if it was theirs. Of course, he said yes. My parents were not happy because it did not belong to the man but he took it anyway. I have found stuff and always attempt to return to owner.
He should have said he believed the money was linked to a crime, past present or future. He confiscated it for the good of society.
If officials from that same county found that money in his car, they would ignore deposit slips too. They’d confíscate it and make him sue to get it back.
The money obviously was from a crime as it belong to the government and about all they conduct anymore is criminal activity.
Ive found a cigarette pack with 2 cigarettes and 3 $20 bills inside... Should i have gone to jail for not giving it to the police?
Given the likelihood of identifying the owner of such a thing was none? No.
But context matters, and not only was finding and identifying the proper owner in this context an easy ask, but there's also the amount of money and the fact that it was in front of the bank where it was meant to be deposited in a deposit bag? Yeah, that's quite a bit different from your example.
Things need to be looked at case by case. You can't just come up with a random example involving money, acting like that it's the same thing and still be considered a reasonable person.
that is in no way the same thing
Yes, because you didn't pay any tobacco tax on the two cigarettes. 😄
Borderline because of the small value. I probably would have given it to lost and found if there were one nearby. I've turned in less than $10 in cash to lost and found. Otherwise, I would have left it alone or put it someplace prominent in case the owner came back looking for it. One time my friend lost a pair of glasses in the park. We came back later and some nice person had hung them from a sign so they were easy to find.
I've stopped smoking but I still need that cash
It reminds me of last year when I found an iPhone at the dog park. The park is next to the police station and I walked over and asked them what I should do with it. They said to leave it by the front door. I was confused because it was late and it was closed and told them that, but ultimately I did what they asked. The phone was, of course, stolen and I met the owner later. A lesson to be learned, put up notices and make a better effort to find the owner, and don't do stupid stuff the police ask you to do.
When I was 20 and REALLY needed money I literally went to the mail and found an envelope with $300 in it. Don’t know where it came from to this day!
Someone decided to be your angel
@@living_in_revelation Yes I always have angels showing up I am very blessed
@@willissudweeks1050 you're not the only one. Christ is king of kings lord of lords
That guy straight up tried to steal the money. You find a bag of money in a bank parking lot, with the bank logo, with a slip showing who the money belongs to and his response is "I felt no obligation to return the money", yeah he tried stealing that money. His character? I have encounter people that swear to be nice, sweet, etc and are among the nastiest people I have ever met.
do u even know the meaning of STEALING
Does anyone actually believe someone just happens to lose a bag with $5,000 in it? Sounds like the wrong guy found it to me.
Totally
He said he was a good and generous guy. I mean, clearly.
Who is trustworthy enough to entrust it to?? Police, banks, City council???
Yeah, right, it's a conspiracy, sure, it always is, we know, yadda, yadda ...
I know this has happened before. I used to work for a KFC and the manager somehow lost a bag with 3K in it. I don't think it was ever found. It can happen but that is one reason why more than one person should be sent to make a deposit.
"Can you keep it?"
The answer is only if you aren't on camera.
Most of these seem so small. I worked a multi-screen movie theatre when I was a teen. Cleaning the theatres between shows and at the end of the night we found money daily, as well as purses and wallets on a regular basis. Wallets and purses we took to the ticket booth and if no one came back we'd often check for ID and contact them but loose cash was another story. If it was a large amount (sometimes hundreds of dollars, my personal 'best' was $480) we'd tell the office in case someone came back and asked about it. The real kicker was, in all the years I worked there, not once did someone come back and ask.
When I was young 50 years ago, I found a golden bracelet. I reported it to the police and they told me to keep it for 5 years. After that it was mine to keep, unless the rightful owner claimed it before that time. I still have it 🤠 This was in the Netherlands.
It's illegal in the UK to keep something you find that isn't yours. I believe it's known as 'stealing by finding'. Having said that, I don't think I've ever heard of someone being tried for it.....surely it's useful when some criminal has possession of an item they stole and says they found it.
The issue is not that he doesn’t know who’s property it is. The issue is that he knows it’s not his. You take something that is not yours, you have stolen it. You always should turn in “found” property to the authorities. If no one claims it after some statutory passage of time, you will then be awarded the property.
likely outcome is the cop you gave it to will just pocket it.
@@ARockRaiderthen that will be on their soul
I guess you are right. I guess the next time you find a penny on the ground, and pick it up, I'll be right there, right next to you, waiting to Arrest and charge you with Possession of Stolen Property.
@Jirodyne exactly, according to what he wrote you have committed a crime until you've turned it in....
@@Bretware904 Which is brain dead stupid. In 'Concept', it makes sense. If something is lost, we want it found.
BUT We also want the concept of Finders Keepers, being able to find and pick up $20, $100 bills off the ground, and able to make a living using a Metal Detector.
^ How can these ideas exist and be praised, if LEGALLY you MUST turn in EVERYTHING you find that is not yours. AND, at which point is it legally Abandoned and now Yours? Especially when the Government, and Police, and can turn and claim to you "The owner came and got them item", but that's a lie and instead the Police/government Pocketed the item/money instead.
It is one of the few laws that is WILDLY Applied, where the Government takes a Minigun and shoots wildly, and NO ONE has any idea what IS or IS NOT Legal and will or will NOT be charged criminally.
Steve , in the UK it is 'theft by finding' because it is likely that someone will notice that amount is gone and will look for it , especially near a bank and be able to prove that it had just been withdrawn or dropped on the way in , the finder should either go into the bank and hand it back or report it to the police because the rightful owner is likely to check both places to see if it has been handed in as it is a significant amount. The finder also knows that the owner is likely to be found that's why it is theft , If it was $5 , not so much
Yeah, I found out about 'theft by finding' recently and I can see where that would apply if this had happened over there.
I recommend looking up Finders versus Keepers. The famous Lionel Hutz case
I'd like to declare a bad court thingy
I'd need more details, since the only Lionel Hutz I've ever heard of was a character in the early seasons of _The Simpsons,_ voiced by the late Phil Hartman, whose death occurred decades ago.
@@arinerm1331 thats the one
D'oh
Aside from the moral implications, most states have ordinances that require you to make some effort to find the owner before keeping whatever you found. Not doing so is usually a misdemeanor crime punishable by a fine and public service.
I think whomever LOST taxpayers $$$, should definitely be charged with some sort of CRIME though!
If he found $5k in a plain envelope with no markings I'd say he did no wrong, but if it was in a bag with markings and had slips with it, yeah, charge him.
The plain and simple truth.
Steve I learned a valuable lesson in high school. I happened to find some stolen property. I collected it and put it in my locker. I had a hunch it could possibly be stolen, but I was not sure. So I had plans to take it to the place I believe it could have been stolen from after school. Well, a friend of mine who I let use my locker sometimes due to the fact his locker was all the way on the other side of campus. Found the property and took some of it, and was caught with it. Well, guess what happened. I learned at that point to not say anything to the police with out a attorney, and possession of stolen property is a crime. Well, even though my attorney told the police I was planning on returning the property to the owner, they refused to believe me. Luckily, this happened back when police didn't like bad press, and I had an aunt that was a reporter for the local newspaper. When the police started reading in the paper how good samaritans should not preform good deeds. The police immediately eliminated me from the investigation.
Did you kick your friend's ass?
When Ralph Crampton found a suit case full of money $100.000 on his bus and told Ed Norton about it, Norton said, I hope a poor person didn't lose it.
Metal detecting? Steve truly is the Most Interesting Man!
I went and looked up Larceny in the state of Connecticut. If you find lost property or money in excess of certain values (hence 3rd degree) and do not make a reasonable attempt to return it to the owner it is considered larceny. If this guy found a bag of money with a deposit slip and walked off with it, that absolutely meets the bar here.
It was in a bank bag with the logo of the same bank where he found it at. Common sense says that it belonged to the bank in some fashion.
@@fauxque5057but the money didn't belong to the bank. None of the money deposited into a bank belongs to the bank. It belongs to the person whose business name is on the deposit slip. When I used to work in retail I would take money to the bank everyday and none of that money ever belonged to the bank
In Illinois that would be called "Theft of lost or mislaid property" and could be a misdemeanor or felony depending on the amount. The procedure in Illinois would be to notify the police that you possess it and if the owner is identified it would have to be returned.
I looked it up and one subdefinition of larceny in CT is "Acquiring property lost, mislaid or delivered by mistake."
I think most places have something similar.
@@cmmosher8035 The law isn't going off of that definition though. They are treating it as the unlawful removal of property. The implication is that he stole property.
So the question is this. If you find a wallet with an ID in it, and it has $3k in it, should you lawfully turn it into the police, or is it forfeit at the discretion of the person who found it in the middle of the street?
All depends on state law, not federal. In the case of california, you absolutely would be charged with a crime. It can even be considered a felony depending on the value in question.
This happened in connecticut, and it does look like, while not as severe as california, you are obligated by law to make an attempt at returning lost goods. I do not believe it should be considered larceny though, so perhaps there is still a reason to fight that particular claim, but he will be punished one way or another.
*edit* looked into it more, and it does seem like under connecticut law, larceny is the proper charge for this incident