A Connecticut man who was charged with larceny forkeeping $5,000 that he foundin a bag in the parking lot of a bank has returned the money, and the charge has been dropped, theAssociated Pressreports.
Robert Withington appeared in Bridgeport Superior Court for a hearing on Wednesday where a state prosecutor announced the decision after Withington returned the money, according to the outlet.
Withington, now 57, turned himself in to police in Trumbull, Conn., in August and was charged following a “lengthy police investigation” regarding the incident that took place on May 30,PEOPLEreported at the time.
According to a police statement released in August, an employee of the Town’s Tax Collector Office lost the bag of cash while on his way to make a delivery at the bank.
He realized once he arrived at his destination that the bag was missing, and the police were notified, the statement said.
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Withington found the bag in a parking lot and later said it felt like he’d “hit the lottery,”CT Postreported at the time.
“I walked out onto the parking lot, saw something on the ground and there was no one around so I picked it up,” he said.
Afterwards, Withington reportedly denied that his actions amounted to theft.
“It’s not like I stole something,” he said.
He claimed it was a case of “finders-keepers,” the Associated Press reports.
However, the police claim it was clearly marked on the bag that it belonged to the bank and “contained numerous documents that identified the owner of the contents as the Town of Trumbull,” according to the police statement.
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“I just looked down, I was like, ‘There’s something there,'” he told the news outlet. “So I just picked it up under my arm like no biggie and just walked back to my car.”
“Anybody who knows me knows all I’m about is generosity,” he told CT Post in August.
source: people.com
