Theft of Lost Property Law

[midas]

One thing that has always bothered me in reading the postings of mainly beach hunters on the forums is:
These people can't wait to get to Virginia Beach or other beaches after the swimmers leave to find the valuables they lost, hoping to find jewelry items worth hundreds of dollars.
Very RARELY do you read where they have tried to return an expensive piece of jewelry or tried to find the owner.
I was watching Dragnet the other day and a guy that found some money on the sidewalk was charged with Theft of Lost Property. I then looked it up and most states have criminal penalties for people who find a valuable item and do not try to return it to the owner.

§ 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.

This fact makes a lot of beach hunters and detectorists CRIMINALS.

Opinions please!

[del]

well Midas , i know that some cities or towns have a clause in their unclaimed law codes that state the local government or municipalities get to keep the property and not the finder (who may have done the right thing and turned it in to authorities) if no one claims the property. does this not make them a criminal as well ??

[happycamper08]

Finders keepers losers weepers probably won't hold up in court. It would be refreshing to see more people do the right thing and return lost valuables, if possible.

[yazoo]

I figure if there is no reasonable way to find the owner then don't tell anyone what you found.Silence can be golden. Besides about anything found of real value there will always be someone wanting to put his fingers in the pie. This is my opinion and I have returned a few rings and that was a awesome feeling to see the look on there face. H.H. Yazoo

[freemindstuck]

Most states also have artifact recovery protection laws that usually say that it is illegal to dig anything that is over a hundred years old as well. As if you could actually legally prove how long something has been in the ground. I know this sounds bad, but I don't worry to much about breaking stupid laws. Which is actually impossible not to do, if you're still breathing. As far as I'm concerned the federal government lost any legitimacy it had years ago when it started trashing the constitution. Having said that I always try to follow the golden law. One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. So I return stuff I find if I can, always get permission from landowners, always leave a site better then it was when you got there, ect... .