NewsNTech
Georgia's lost and mislaid property statute carries no minimum dollar threshold for criminal exposure, and that gap is what turned a $30 floor pickup at an Albany Walmart into a public police identification effort.
The statute makes it a crime to knowingly keep found property without first taking reasonable steps to return it to its owner. The specific reasonable step in a retail setting is turning the cash over to store employees.
The man picked up the bills after another shopper dropped them and did not take that step. The Albany Police Department posted a photo of the man and asked the public to help identify him.
The reaction online was almost uniformly skeptical. Commenters questioned whether the amount justified the department's attention.
Keep reading