Man charged for spending misplaced money
LA VISTA, Neb. - A La Vista man was charged with felony theft after he spent $80,000 his bank deposited by mistake in his account.
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George J. Costa, 45, is charged with theft of lost or mislaid property. It is a crime to take money that's been "delivered under a mistake."
More than $106,000 was deposited into Costa's account between August 2006 and February after a Pinnacle Bank employee mixed up account numbers, according to the Nebraska State Patrol.
The bank was able to recover $26,000 from Costa's account after the mistake was recovered.
"'Finder's keepers' and 'possession is nine-tenths of the law' aren't legal principles," said Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov.
Costa's lawyer, James Martin Davis, said Costa is willing to work out repayment in civil court but shouldn't be charged criminally.
"If somebody sticks money in your pocket and you spend it, you can't be convicted of theft," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070427/ap_on_fe_st/finders_keepers;_ylt=AnoTX3za7GiardWLdufpqx4sQE4F
Re: Man charged for spending misplaced money
I don't think he should be charged with anything.
If somebody is dumb enough to make a mistake of those proportions, the guy receiving the money shouldn't get in trouble.
The morally correct thing would be to notify them of the error and return the money.
That's what I would do anyways...mostly because they ARE going to find out where the money went, and secondly because of moral reasons...
Re: Man charged for spending misplaced money
Shoot.. If he was SMART!! he would have takena all the money out when it reached 100,000 dollars. thats what i woulda of done. That way they cant catch you because you account is gone. thats sounds good to me.
Re: Man charged for spending misplaced money
"SharperImage" wrote:
Quote:
Shoot.. If he was SMART!! he would have takena all the money out when it reached 100,000 dollars. thats what i woulda of done. That way they cant catch you because you account is gone. thats sounds good to me.
Decent plan but I'd bet anything they would still catch him.
It's not hard at all to track monetary transactions.
He should have sent the money to an offshore bank account and moved to the Caribbean for the rest of his life.
Not sure what he would do when the money ran out, but if he invested wisely, maybe he could make a meager living in a smaller country.
