I found $640: now what?

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He put the money in a bag on top of the car and it blew off.

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There are no words for this. The only way that large sums of money will ever end up on the side of the road is if someone is a total moron - like the character described in this story.

That's why if I ever find money on the side of the road, and there's no wrecked Brinks truck around, I'm collecting every last goddamn cent and not saying a word to anybody.

Idiots should suffer for their idiocy.

yasher

[Stuey]

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It's good you returned it. I have a friend who graduated college recently and he was driving in his car in Colorodo. On the side of the road he jsut sees large piles of money so he pulls over and starts picking it up. In total it was about $30,000 or so. He makes almost no money at his job, but he turned it in. Turns out that it was some poor schlub who took his life saving that he got from his parents and was moving somewhere on his own. He put the money in a bag on top of the car and it blew off. He actually had $40k but some other people pulled over and snatched some up too, so he didn't get it all back. Basically I'm just saying this because, although you don't make a ton of money, that sum could be alot to someone. If it were me, it would be most of my money and that would be a big blow to me. Glad you turned it in.

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That sounds like the standard line I would give the cops if I was a drug dealer and some stupid runner lost a large amount of my cash.

[tripp0807]

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I'm 99% sure I would have pocketed the money and taken care of my business at the bank on Monday morning. Minor hijack, but where does the law stand on all this? Do you have an obligation to turn it in, if its lying in the middle of a (generally speaking) public place like a parking lot?

Anyway, good luck.

yasher

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The law says you're guilty of theft. It's not yours, and you found it outside a bank, of all things - so you know where it more than likely came from.

To the people who said they'd keep it and were serious: you're trash. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

Tripp:

I'd like to read the statute, if you know of one... I don't care what state its from, I'm just interested in seeing just how protected from themselves and their own stupidity today's Americans really are.

If you drop $640, and don't notice it, you don't deserve to have the $640. Period.

Flame on,
yasher

[-Skeme-]

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Considering it was probably someones Christmas money that they were going to buy presents with, you did the right thing.

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Yes, keeping someone's normal money they worked hard for is much better.

[tripp0807]

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Tripp:

I'd like to read the statute, if you know of one... I don't care what state its from, I'm just interested in seeing just how protected from themselves and their own stupidity today's Americans really are.

If you drop $640, and don't notice it, you don't deserve to have the $640. Period.

Flame on,
yasher

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18 Pa.C.S. (Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes) § 3921 Theft by unlawful taking.
(a) MOVABLE PROPERTY. --A person is guilty of theft if he unlawfully takes, or exercises unlawful control over, movable property of another with intent to deprive him thereof.

The purpose of this statute isn't to protect idiots who lose things. It's to punish scumbags like you that would keep things when they know it isn't theirs.

EDITED TO ADD

Can't believe I missed this one:

18 Pa.C.S. § 3924 Theft of 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 theft if, with intent to deprive the owner thereof, he fails to take reasonable measures to restore the property to a person entitled to have it.

tripp:

Both of those excerpts - and the articles I found by searching for those terms - were very interesting reads. My question is this: How is the law not protecting the idiots who lose things? Yes, it certainly does intend to punish the scumbags like myself who would happily collect $640 (or $30k) off the ground and pocket it - but why does it intend to do such punishing? The intent is to make people like myself less likely to simply pocket the money, and more likely to turn it over to the proper authorities. Thus, the ultimate intent is to protect the morons that lose things from themselves. You can probably make the argument that the law protects the moron from the scumbags like me, but if the moron weren't to lose said item in the first place, the scumbag wouldnt be in a position to appropriate the item.

Sorting out my jibber jabber, I'm simply saying this: If I managed to drop $1000 in $20s somewhere, I wouldn't expect to get it back. I shouldn't. I screwed up, its my fault. But the government says, hold up, wait, yasher, we need to protect you from yourself! So, if you drop $1000 in $20s, anyone that finds that money is obligated to turn it into the police - because you're a moron and need to be protected from yourself.

Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

I've gotta get to work, but perhaps I'll have a useful analogy when I return. These laws - applied to this sort of case - just reek.

This should be interesting,
yasher

[TTChamp]

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Quote:
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It's good you returned it. I have a friend who graduated college recently and he was driving in his car in Colorodo. On the side of the road he jsut sees large piles of money so he pulls over and starts picking it up. In total it was about $30,000 or so. He makes almost no money at his job, but he turned it in. Turns out that it was some poor schlub who took his life saving that he got from his parents and was moving somewhere on his own. He put the money in a bag on top of the car and it blew off. He actually had $40k but some other people pulled over and snatched some up too, so he didn't get it all back. Basically I'm just saying this because, although you don't make a ton of money, that sum could be alot to someone. If it were me, it would be most of my money and that would be a big blow to me. Glad you turned it in.


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That sounds like the standard line I would give the cops if I was a drug dealer and some stupid runner lost a large amount of my cash.

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My roommate in college found a few thousand in a brown paper bag in the grass by the side walk. He turned it into the campus cops who said it was most likely drug money and they would give it to him if no claimed it after x days (I went to Pitt which is in a relatively bad area so the campus cops are real police). They ultimately determined the money was from some drug deal (not sure how) and it went to some state fund (you know, like the one where they put drug dealers cars). He ended up with nothing.

[Ulysses]

RHD,

So, uh, just wondering... Was it this branch?

1013 16th Ave S
Nashville, TN 37203

Wondering,
El Diablo

[RunDownHouse]

ElD,

No, it wasn't.

Vaguely Curious,
RunDownHouse