Man Arrested Months After Finding A Bag Full Of $5,000 In Cash In A Parking Lot

[Sugar Cookie]

A Connecticut man says it felt like he won the lottery when he discovered a bag with nearly $5,000 in cash lying in a parking lot. So, he decided to keep it.

Three months later, he has been charged with larceny.

It turns out the bag, which Trumbull Police said was clearly marked with a bank's insignia and found outside the same bank, contained cash from the town's tax department. There were also “numerous documents” inside identifying the rightful owner of the cash as the town of Trumbull, police said.

The man, Robert Withington, 56, of Trumbull, contends he didn't steal the money and didn't notice anything inside the bag indicating who the owner was.

The money went missing on May 30. Police said an employee in the Trumbull Tax Collector's office couldn't find the bag after arriving at the bank to make a deposit during regular business hours, according to a police news release. Over the next several months, detectives obtained search warrants, reviewed multiple surveillance videos from local businesses and conducted numerous interviews before learning the bag had been “inadvertently dropped on the ground outside of the bank” and Withington had picked it up.

“I walked out onto the parking lot, saw something on the ground and there was no one around so I picked it up,” Withington told Hearst. “It’s not like I stole something.”

“If I knew I was wrong in the first place, I would have given it right back. I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong,” he added.

When police eventually interviewed Withington, they said he acknowledged being at the bank that day and taking the bag. He told them that he believed “he had no obligation to return the bag to its rightful owner,” according to the release.

Withington, who runs a dog training business, told Hearst he has never had a criminal record and his customers can vouch for his integrity. He was charged Friday with third-degree larceny, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines. He was released on a promise to appear in court on Sept. 5.

“Anybody who knows me knows all I’m about is generosity,” he said. “After living in this town for 20 years, I’m not looking for trouble.”

A man is arrested months after finding a bag full of $5,000 in cash in a parking lot

It turns out the bag, which Trumbull Police said was clearly marked with a bank's insignia and found outside the same bank, contained cash from the town's tax department. The man, Robert Withington, ...

news.yahoo.com

 

[thuumpr]

Use the 'Finders, Keepers' defense or 'Possession is nine tenths of the law' defense!

 

[Metalfan]

Fuck em if a bank is missing something they are on it like flies on shit,if someone is robbed raped,or beaten,well you just have to fill out paperwork and we will be on it sooner or later.

 

[BuffettGirl]

Ignorance of the law is no excuse! And any decent human being would have realized that they were at a BANK and they would have turned it in, or taken it home and IMMEDIATELY called the police. I hope they get him on treble damages in the very least.

 

[Metalfan]

Ignorance of the law is no excuse! And any decent human being would have realized that they were at a BANK and they would have turned it in, or taken it home and IMMEDIATELY called the police. I hope they get him on treble damages in the very least.

Your not supporting the underdog,your on time out!

 

[BuffettGirl]

Your not supporting the underdog,your on time out!

Some things are just innate!

 

[Sejanus]

Still a dishonest creep

 

[sgr1966]

I dt know. I am seriously living a ridiculous not even paycheck to paycheck life. I seriously live hungry. A bag with 5 grand makes me think I can not be hungry for 6 months

 

[Symmachus]

A Connecticut man says it felt like he won the lottery when he discovered a bag with nearly $5,000 in cash lying in a parking lot. So, he decided to keep it.

He was charged Friday with third-degree larceny, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.

From a purely financial standpoint, it doesn't look like his snatch-&-go plan would be all that profitable. I wouldn't want to receive $5,000 for free if I was going to be fined that exact amount later. Hell, even $1, in this context, looks unappealing.