I spent a week in jail for finding a lost cellphone...legal recourse? [Thread Fail!]

[AndroidVageta]

You're all hating assholes. Fuck you.

Original OP, prior to the edit:

So I just spent a week in jail because I found a cell phone in Wal-mart.

Long story short:

- Me and my girl went to Walmart around 1AM to get some snacks (her check gets auto-deposited at midnight on Friday).

- While at Walmart I find a cellphone literally sitting on a shelf.

- I go out to car to smoke a cig cause I was tired and didnt feel like walking around.

- Girl comes up to car 15 minutes later with two police officers next to her...I think "WTF did she do?!"

- Police ask if I found a phone...I say yes and hand it to them...no bullshit on my part.

- Woman whose phone it was was still at Walmart and presses charges against me...police gave me no time to talk to her.

- I get arrested and taken to jail for 8 days for "theft by finding lost property"

Now let me say that I had every intention of turning the phone into Sprint the next day. When in the back of the cop car I asked the cop what I SHOULD have done...he tells me I should have brought it to the police station...I ask HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT IF YOU ARE TAKING ME TO JAIL BEFORE IVE HAD TIME TO LEAVE THE FUCKING PARKING LOT?! (minus the fucking part). Cop shrugs shoulders.

Am I the only one that sees something seriously wrong with this? I feel like these cops need to be punished or something...MORE THAN A WEEK IN COUNTY JAIL CAUSE I FOUND A LOST CELL PHONE...WTF?!?!?!

OP has been banned. -Admin DrPizza

 

[NFS4]

Maybe that'll be an incentive for you to stop smoking

 

[guyver01]

- While at Walmart I find a cellphone literally sitting on a shelf.

At that point.. you shoulda taken it to Lost & Found at Walmart... turned it in.. and be done with it.

 

[qliveur]

Get a good lawyer.

 

[eldorado99]

Wow... That's pretty fucked up. I'd be god damn pissed if that happened to me.

 

[her209]

There was no trial?

 

[guyver01]

Ok.. i'm gonna call SHENS.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2101769&highlight Posted 9/19/2010
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2106543&highlight Posted 9/18/2010

How did you just spend a week in jail... when you posted 3 days ago?

 

[AndroidVageta]

At that point.. you shoulda taken it to Lost & Found at Walmart... turned it in.. and be done with it.

I thought of that...but having worked retail most my life I know that just cause you turn something in to lost and found doesn't mean that some employee may not decide to pocket it or what have you. So I thought this a bad idea...turning it into Sprint seemed like the much more reasonable and intelligent thing to do.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Shens. Who is stupid enough not to just take the cell phone to customer service? Ever hear of Lost and Find? No bail or trial?

 

[Wingznut]

At that point.. you shoulda taken it to Lost & Found at Walmart... turned it in.. and be done with it.

Exactly.

 

[AndroidVageta]

Ok.. i'm gonna call SHENS.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2101769&highlight Posted 9/19/2010
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2106543&highlight Posted 9/18/2010

How did you just spend a week in jail... when you posted 3 days ago?

I got out Saturday last weekend...decided to post it here now to get some feedback...see if anyone knew something I didn't and what not. No shens...all BS!:twisted:

 

[BoomerD]

At that point.. you shoulda taken it to Lost & Found at Walmart... turned it in.. and be done with it.

Pretty much this.

While your intentions may have been...noble, you'll not likely ever convince anyone of that.

Time to lawyer up.

 

[AndroidVageta]

Shens. Who is stupid enough not to just take the cell phone to customer service? Ever hear of Lost and Find? No bail or trial?

Again...didnt feel safe turning into to somewhere that it could be stolen again.

 

[eldorado99]

Actually I have a question. Who the fuck phones the cops over a stolen cell phone?

 

[Newbian]

Usually when the cell phones are still inside a package you need to pay for them first.

 

[AndroidVageta]

Pretty much this.

While your intentions may have been...noble, you'll not likely ever convince anyone of that.

Time to lawyer up.

I talked to a public defender a few days after being in the slammer...he laughed and told me it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.

The charge is only a misdemeanor and he told me that the chances of it ever going to court are slim...and that even if it does the chances of the charges getting dropped are very very high.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Please explain how you had to spend a week in jail. No bail? No trial?

 

[AndroidVageta]

Please explain how you had to spend a week in jail. No bail? No trial?

No, I had bail a few hours later (had to go to bail hearing as my specific charge didnt carry a pre-determined bail)...just didnt have the cash to pay a bail bonds man.

So realistically, I could have gotten out the next day...but again, money was the issue.

 

[guyver01]

Ok... what exactly was the charge? I googled theft by finding lost property.. and amazing enough.. got no hits. Unless they were charging you with grand theft... i find it hard to believe you were in jail for 8 days, with no lawyer (you know.. the whole "if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you") getting you out or even without an arraignment. If it happend on Saturday, you shoulda been arraigned on monday...

 

[AndroidVageta]

Ok... what exactly was the charge? I googled theft by finding lost property.. and amazing enough.. got no hits. Unless they were charging you with grand theft... i find it hard to believe you were in jail for 8 days, with no lawyer (you know.. the whole "if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you") getting you out or even without an arraignment. If it happend on Saturday, you shoulda been arraigned on monday...

The charge was, according to the documents "theft by taking lost property".

I was told my bail a few hours after being in, just didnt have the cash for a bail bonds man...that why I stayed in so long. Wasn't in long enough to go to court.

I was assigned a public defender and he told me the case was ridiculous...told me that the jail didn't even have any info on the case (as in no summary on his part)...all the info he had on the case was what I told him.

 

[guyver01]

The charge was, according to the documents "theft by taking lost property".

I was told my bail a few hours after being in, just didnt have the cash for a bail bonds man...that why I stayed in so long.

What's the exact penal code you were arrested under? How could it be THEFT... if the property was LOST.


BailBondsmen don't take cash... they take collateral.. You know.. your car... your house... whatever... and if you skip... they take your shit... if you don't.. you pay the day of your hearing.

I still find your whole story full of shit...

You get out on 9/18... and the only thing you did here was bump your Blu Ray thread? If this happened to me.. i'd post the story on every internet website, every newspaper, every radio station i knew of. I would not wait a week to "think about it"

Prove it to us by posting a picture of your arrest paperwork.

 

[brainhulk]

so, did you get the cockmeat sandwhich?

 

[Mike Gayner]

I'm calling BS on this whole story. America has some pretty retarded examples of justice, but even though this story seems far fetched. When did this allegedly happen OP?

edit: OIC released Saturday (allegedly).

 

[HamburgerBoy]

AndroidVegeta is a cop-hating drug-addled punk child with nothing better to do than make up far-fetched stories of police excess. If he was really sent to jail, it's because he attempted shoplifting to stick it to the man and failed miserably.

 

[Kanalua]

Sheds. And 1983.