Stealing ok if you give it back?

[trax1]

My cousin works for a college in the student finance dept., yesterday she had a student in her office that she was helping, she left the office for a few minutes to get something, she came back gave the student some paperwork & she left, a few minutes later she went to get her brush out of her purse & noticed it was open, her wallet was gone, she went and got her boss and they tried to find her, they saw her going down a staircase & yelled for her to stop, she took off running & they lost her, well apparently knowing she was caught the girl called her student rep and told them where they could find the wallet & that nothing was taken out of it, she said something like she just took it to see how far she could get with it.  So they went & found it and everything was there, but here the even more messed up part that I don't get, when the cops came they told her there was nothing they could do about it because the girl was 17 and she gave it back with nothing missing, so basically this say that as long as your underage & steal something, if you think your gonna get caught just give it back & your ok, at least the school told the girl she can no longer be a student at the school.

[JunkyII]

Not gunna say the cops were wrong here, but thats a load of crap. Plus they dont even know if she didnt take something that she could sell later down the road.....like maybe some credit card numbers, social,.......she could have just wrote those down real quick

[Enker]

Remember that Spongebob Squarepants episode where they stole a balloon? This reminds me of that. This generation has been raised on "It isn't stealing of you are going to give it back. Eventually." Lock your belongings.

To me, this case sounds like someone trying to break free of routine or to see what it is like. A test, if you will. It's like teenagers dying their hair style, as a way to find their identity.

[SPKmes]

And they wonder why people take things into their own hands

To me, this case sounds like someone trying to break free of routine or to see what it is like. A test, if you will. It's like teenagers dying their hair style, as a way to find their identity.

No no test here....she got caught and came up with a lame excuse for taking it...if she hadn't been found out that day she would have used what she could dumped it and then denied any knowledge.

[Motherland]

This generation

Not 'this generation'. 'It's not stealing if you give it back' has been a refuge of the morally impaired since the beginning of time.

[maddafinga]

Some years back my ex wife's car got stolen.  It was eventually found because some people called to report a strange vehicle coming and going at the house across the street.  Apparently it had been stolen by a kid from a well to do family while his parents were out of town.  The car was full of identical packages of cell phones and clothes hangars, where him and his friends had been stealing stuff from stores around town.  

Because he was a juvenile, and because his parents were out to town and could prove that they had no knowledge of the theft, the police did nothing.  They wouldn't even give us his name, because he was under 18, nor would they give us the address where the car was found, or the name of his parents.  Basically it was just too bad, you were unlucky that a rich kid stole it.


They had the kid drive the car (cracked steering column and hotwired and all) to a local convenience store, then called me and left a voicemail.  "Your car is a the QuikTrip at such and such crossroads, if you don't come get it and have it away from there in 20 minutes, it will be towed away at your expense.  

I had to pay 200 bucks for towing and to get it out of impound, and then another 600 to have the steering column and other damage fixed.  

Stealing is only wrong, apparently, if you're not properly connected when you do it.

[trax1]

No no test here....she got caught and came up with a lame excuse for taking it...if she hadn't been found out that day she would have used what she could dumped it and then denied any knowledge.

Thats what I said, had they not seen her on the staircase and yelled for her to stop and she took off running she probably would have just denied taking it, but it would have been hard to deny it when she ran.

[trax1]

Some years back my ex wife's car got stolen.  It was eventually found because some people called to report a strange vehicle coming and going at the house across the street.  Apparently it had been stolen by a kid from a well to do family while his parents were out of town.  The car was full of identical packages of cell phones and clothes hangars, where him and his friends had been stealing stuff from stores around town.  

Because he was a juvenile, and because his parents were out to town and could prove that they had no knowledge of the theft, the police did nothing.  They wouldn't even give us his name, because he was under 18, nor would they give us the address where the car was found, or the name of his parents.  Basically it was just too bad, you were unlucky that a rich kid stole it.


They had the kid drive the car (cracked steering column and hotwired and all) to a local convenience store, then called me and left a voicemail.  "Your car is a the QuikTrip at such and such crossroads, if you don't come get it and have it away from there in 20 minutes, it will be towed away at your expense.  

I had to pay 200 bucks for towing and to get it out of impound, and then another 600 to have the steering column and other damage fixed.  

Stealing is only wrong, apparently, if you're not properly connected when you do it.

Now thats just wrong, how could they not do anything, there had been obvious damage to the car and you had to pay for it?  Did you ever try contacting your local district attorneys office to see what could be done, not just what the police said?

[maddafinga]

Now thats just wrong, how could they not do anything, there had been obvious damage to the car and you had to pay for it?  Did you ever try contacting your local district attorneys office to see what could be done, not just what the police said?

I made a lot of calls, they pretty much just said, well that's how it is. 

[trax1]

I made a lot of calls, they pretty much just said, well that's how it is. 

Yeah that's really messed up because like I said he damaged your property, and it wasn't like some little dent or scratch, he tore up the driving column and caused $600 in damage.

[MORAY37]

Some years back my ex wife's car got stolen.  It was eventually found because some people called to report a strange vehicle coming and going at the house across the street.  Apparently it had been stolen by a kid from a well to do family while his parents were out of town.  The car was full of identical packages of cell phones and clothes hangars, where him and his friends had been stealing stuff from stores around town.  

Because he was a juvenile, and because his parents were out to town and could prove that they had no knowledge of the theft, the police did nothing.  They wouldn't even give us his name, because he was under 18, nor would they give us the address where the car was found, or the name of his parents.  Basically it was just too bad, you were unlucky that a rich kid stole it.


They had the kid drive the car (cracked steering column and hotwired and all) to a local convenience store, then called me and left a voicemail.  "Your car is a the QuikTrip at such and such crossroads, if you don't come get it and have it away from there in 20 minutes, it will be towed away at your expense.  

I had to pay 200 bucks for towing and to get it out of impound, and then another 600 to have the steering column and other damage fixed.  

Stealing is only wrong, apparently, if you're not properly connected when you do it.

Was there a police report filed after the theft?

Hmmmm.  Something is extremely strange about this story.  What law enforcement department said that? There is absolutely nothing in U.S. law that allows for that.  In fact, directly the opposite.  You cannot be charged for any storage or other fees..... and they cannot just have the "kid" drive your vehicle to a third party for you to take back possession.  Your rights as the owner are automatically being infringed upon, as you are being required to insure the operation of that vehicle and liable for anything said party does while driving it to that location.  There isn't a law enforcement branch in the country that can allow that to happen.  As well, if there was a police report filed, you would therefore be required to sign a release to acknowledge the return of your property.

 This smells extremely fishy.  Either you aren't telling the whole story, or your ex-wife out and out lied to you and had some sort of culpability in the situation.

[trax1]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing, something about that just doesn't sound right, I can't see the police just allowing a kid to steal a car, damage it, return it to you himself by dropping it off at another location.

[maddafinga]

Was there a police report filed after the theft?

Hmmmm.  Something is extremely strange about this story.  What law enforcement department said that? There is absolutely nothing in U.S. law that allows for that.  In fact, directly the opposite.  You cannot be charged for any storage or other fees..... and they cannot just have the "kid" drive your vehicle to a third party for you to take back possession.  Your rights as the owner are automatically being infringed upon, as you are being required to insure the operation of that vehicle and liable for anything said party does while driving it to that location.  There isn't a law enforcement branch in the country that can allow that to happen.  As well, if there was a police report filed, you would therefore be required to sign a release to acknowledge the return of your property.

 This smells extremely fishy.  Either you aren't telling the whole story, or your ex-wife out and out lied to you and had some sort of culpability in the situation.

That's really the whole thing in a nutshell.  Of course it was about 7 or 8  years or so ago at this point and I may not remember every detail exactly right.  We had filed a report when the car first went missing.  Initially the cops came out and asked if we were sure it hadn't just been repossessed.  We had bought it outright for just a few hundred bucks, it was a cheap, crappy car,but she wasn't working and that's what I could afford at the time.  Then they said, well just drive around the neighborhood and see if you can see it. 

About a week or two later was when they called and said that the car was at a QT and we had 20 minutes to pick it up.  I was the one that heard the voicemail, so I can promise that was the case there.  I don't remember signing a release specifically to get the car back, but I did have to sign a handful of papers at the wrecker lot.  I was pretty angry about the whole thing, but those are the bare facts.  I went and picked the car up and paid to get it out.  I went through all the packages of stolen cell phones and clothes hangars and tags in the back, and I checked out the busted column and hotwire job on it. 

Now, the ex really was a pos and chronic liar and runner of scams as it turns out (hindsight, lesson learned) and she was the one doing a lot of the talking with the police, so I can't say exactly what she was or was not up to there.  I did talk to them after we got the car back and did have them specifically tell me that they couldn't release the kid's name to me or the parent's name, or the address where the car was found.  Heard that with my own ears right from the horse's mouth as it were.  But whatever she might have told them or said or done behind my back, I have no way of saying exactly.  I didn't at the time have any feeling that there was any skullduggery on her part going on, but knowing what I know now, I can't say for sure really.  I was just a kid in his mid 20s trying to get by then.  If the same thing happened to me now, I'd handle it totally on my own and wouldn't just accept what I was told without wanting to talk to some other people in the dept.  But like I said, hindsight...

[Meatwad]

Even if someone gives something back that they stole, they should still be held accountable 100% and punished according to the crime committed

[Maverick]

Sounds like your ex sold the detectives a line of crap about the car and if it was really stolen or that perhaps you might have been trying an insurance scam.

As far as the theft at the college is concerned did your cousin really contact the police or was it some security agency that is pulling some kind of security on the campus? I think you need to have your cousin call the metro PD and file a report. She will need to say she is interested in prosecuting the thief. If she says that she is NOT interested in prosecution save your time. There is no reason to take a report then. They don't take reports for the penmanship exercise. Lots of folks like to complain but when it comes to standing up for your statements in court it changes.