A Connecticut man has been charged with larceny three months after he claimed to have found a bag containing nearly $5,000 in cash in a parking lot.
According to the Trumbull Police Department, 56-year-old Robert Withington was charged on 25 August with larceny “following a lengthy police investigation into the theft of several thousand dollars in Town tax receipt funds.”
Mr Withington turned himself in to police for arrest.
Detectives began investigating after they were informed that a Trumbell Tax Collector Office employee couldn’t find a bank deposit bag while making a delivery to the bank on 30 May.
According to police, this bag “was clearly marked with the bank’s insignia and contained numerous documents that identified the owner of the contents as the Town of Trumbull.”
After conducting several interviews and obtaining surveillance footage and search warrants, police discovered that the bank deposit bag “had been inadvertently dropped on the ground outside of the bank.”
It was then picked up by Mr Withington, officials wrote, as he admitted in an interview that he found the bag — holding $5,000 — outside of the bank on 30 May.
“He kept the bag, believing that he had no obligation to return the bag to its rightful owner,” the police wrote.
Mr Withington was charged with “Larceny in the Third Degree,” Trumbull police said, adding that he was released on a Promise to Appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on 5 September.
Mr Withington told the Connecticut Post: “I walked out onto the parking lot, saw something on the ground and there was no one around so I picked it up. It’s not like I stole something.”
“It’s not like this was planned out. Everything was in the moment and it was like I hit the lottery. That was it,” he added.
He told the outlet that he runs a dog training business, adding that his clients can speak to his character. “Anybody who knows me knows all I’m about is generosity,” Mr Withington said. “After living in this town for 20 years, I’m not looking for trouble.”
The Independent has reached out to Mr Withington for comment.
