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

[waggy]

And by a week in jail, I think it's safe to assume he was in there for a few hours or maybe overnight. No one is held for 8 days because they took a cell phone. Maybe he had outstanding warrants?

thats what i was thinking. wouldn't he get signature bail? or whatever they call it? unless of course he has been in jail a few times..

keeping in jail over a $400 phone seems excessive. then again staying in jail and not paying a $120 bond is idiotic.

 

[Number1]

Did you loose your job over this if you have one? Missing a week at work would be noticed.

Also why would you not get bail, it would still be cheaper then missing all this work.

 

[Deeko]

Let me get this straight - A guy who has admitted to stealing from companies like Wal Mart in the past, as well as a friend of a friend's iPhone 3GS (which, for those counting at home, came out in mid 2009, not exactly an old childhood crime he's reminiscing about), went to jail for taking a phone he found in a Wal Mart. Given said history, are we really to believe that he intended to "give it back to Sprint" the next day?

If we learned anything from the "found/stolen" iPhone 4 prototype debacle, its that when you find something accidentally left behind at a place of business, the *only* right thing to do is to turn it into that establishment. So either the OP is lying to us and truly meant to keep it, or the OP doesn't understand basic conventions of society (yes, I read the 'walmart worker will steal it' excuse, no I'm not buying that).

 

[L00PY]

Ignoring the possible ethics of the OP, I'll just say when I've found phones it the past I'll usually just call the last number and tell them to tell whomever that I've found their phone. Often they're still in the area and I can just hand it over and be done with it. If I get no answer, I'll sometimes just send out a couple of texts to contacts in the last called log letting them know I'm turning in the phone and the lost and found wherever.

 

[Cogman]

Ignoring the possible ethics of the OP, I'll just say when I've found phones it the past I'll usually just call the last number and tell them to tell whomever that I've found their phone. Often they're still in the area and I can just hand it over and be done with it. If I get no answer, I'll sometimes just send out a couple of texts to contacts in the last called log letting them know I'm turning in the phone and the lost and found wherever.

This is probably what I would have done. I would have never taken the phone out with me and would have informed the most recent call that "I'm leaving the phone with the walmart sales rep".

 

[Uppsala9496]

What I don't get is why his girlfriend, who just happens to have her 'work' check clear, didn't bail him out.
Or was $150 or whatever the bail amount more than the check?

 

[wheresmybacon]

Ignoring the possible ethics of the OP, I'll just say when I've found phones it the past I'll usually just call the last number and tell them to tell whomever that I've found their phone. Often they're still in the area and I can just hand it over and be done with it. If I get no answer, I'll sometimes just send out a couple of texts to contacts in the last called log letting them know I'm turning in the phone and the lost and found wherever.

No one takes something out of a store that they didn't buy without the clear knowledge that they have thus STOLEN it. Merchandise or not. This guy is a self-admitted thief and this thread should be in the running for pwnage of the year.

 

[darkswordsman17]

What I don't get is why his girlfriend, who just happens to have her 'work' check clear, didn't bail him out.
Or was $150 or whatever the bail amount more than the check?

Well, in all fairness, based on the OP's posting, and the fact that she had to be the one bringing in all the money, if I were her, I think I'd probably value the cable, phone, and "living money" more than keeping him from being used as a dickscarf for Bubba.

 

[Capt Caveman]

No one takes something out of a store that they didn't buy without the clear knowledge that they have thus STOLEN it. Merchandise or not. This guy is a self-admitted thief and this thread should be in the running for pwnage of the year.

And a store like Walmart is going to have surveillance cameras watching him take it and walk out of the store.

 

[PhineasJWhoopee]

Drop the thing off at the service counter and be done with it. Case closed.

I don't have much sympathy.

 

[Analog]

I've found a purse in the walmart parking lot left in a shopping cart. I took it to the police station. I didn't want to leave it with lost and found at wally world. I never opened it or anything. The police took my name and asked me if they could tell the owner - and I said sure. I got a call the next day from a woman that thanked me dearly for finding her purse and wanted to reward me, I politely declined. I probably would have left the cell at wally world, because it isn't as valuable as what could be in a purse, but I think you shouldn't have been arrested.

 

[ahenkel]

I was just thinking about this thread. My one concern is how the fuck do you spend a week in jail due to not being able to make bail. I know a ton of people I can call that have my back even if I'm piss broke. There's no way my friends and family would let me spend a week in jail. If the OP called someone and asked for help that's pretty telling.

 

[Slapstick]

I was just thinking about this thread. My one concern is how the fuck do you spend a week in jail due to not being able to make bail. I know a ton of people I can call that have my back even if I'm piss broke. There's no way my friends and family would let me spend a week in jail. If the OP called someone and asked for help that's pretty telling.

Thieves don't have many friends.

 

[Phoenix86]

Epic self ownage thread. At a minimum, karma's a bitch and you deserve this.

Why is an admitted thief allowed to pawn his shit in FS&T???

 

[Phoenix86]

I was just thinking about this thread. My one concern is how the fuck do you spend a week in jail due to not being able to make bail. I know a ton of people I can call that have my back even if I'm piss broke. There's no way my friends and family would let me spend a week in jail. If the OP called someone and asked for help that's pretty telling.

His story is so full of shit, it's not worth dissecting.

You don't sit in jail for $120 for more than a couple nights MAX with time served.

 

[GundamW]

This thread is entertaining. Thanks OP.

I don't know if I believe the whole story though.
Like some posters said, it seems like the "return to Sprint" is just an excuse because you got caught.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I'd sue her, lawyer up asap.

EDIT : Didn't see self-ownage...haha.

 

[Number1]

If I ever decide I want to tell a big lie, I am testing it out on ATOT first. If there are any holes in it, they will come out in a hurry.

LOL

 

[QueBert]

What I don't get is why his girlfriend, who just happens to have her 'work' check clear, didn't bail him out.
Or was $150 or whatever the bail amount more than the check?

This is my take on that, I don't know op of his GF but I have friends who do about the same thing. The going to Walmart to buy snacks minutes after their check gets auto deposited not get busted for cell phones lol. Any ways, they don't have much money, hence why they have to wait for a check to clear to go by some junk food. This may or may not be the ops case. But in their case the checks are enough for rent, insurance and a bit of junk food nothing else. If this is the op's GF case I could definitely see the check being tied up, maybe she lives check to check where something like bail wouldn't be a possibility.

I could be way off base here, but like I said I'm just making an assumption based off people I know who do similar things. I mean who else runs to Walmart 1AM right after a check clears? I got buddies who do, I don't think a person with a large bank account would. And I only bring this up because OP said in his 2nd sentence how they went to Walmart because her check just cleared.

 

[Regs]

lol.

 

[waggy]

And a store like Walmart is going to have surveillance cameras watching him take it and walk out of the store.

actually there is a damn good chance he was not on camera. they don't have a camera's over the entire store. usually over high cost items and the registers.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

You can't steal "lost" property. There are no property rights in "Lost" property per se.

Argue false imprisonment.

 

[Deeko]

You can't steal "lost" property. There are no property rights in "Lost" property per se.

Argue false imprisonment.

Sure you can, and sure there are.

 

[Dirigible]

In the past I have found a wallet on the street and not returned it immediately. It sat in my backpack a few days until I saw a police officer stopped and I gave it to him.

Whether or not OP is lying I am surprised at how many people in this thread would have been happy to call me a thief because of my actions and throw me in jail. Sounds like I should not do a damn thing in future if I see someone's forgotten wallet, phone, or other stuff.

 

[Krazy4Real]

lawyer up and sue. It's the american way.

Oh and make sure you live stream your trial.