A Connecticut resident, who stumbled upon a bag containing almost $5,000 in cash outside a bank and claimed "finders-keepers," saw a criminal charge against him dismissed on Wednesday after returning the money.
Robert Withington, aged 57, attended a court hearing at Bridgeport Superior Court, where a state prosecutor informed his lawyer about the felony larceny charge being dropped.
In May, Withington discovered a bag with $4,761 near a bank in his hometown of Trumbull, close to Bridgeport. It later emerged that the money belonged to the Trumbull tax collector's office. A town employee had accidentally dropped the bag while heading to the bank to deposit the money, as per the police report.
The bag was marked with the bank's name on the outside, and deposit slips inside indicated it was town funds.
Withington, a dog trainer, happened to be in the vicinity and picked up the bag before driving away. Surveillance video led to his identification, and he was subsequently arrested on August 25.
Before the recent court appearance, Withington had already provided a bank-certified check to the town attorney for the missing money. Despite returning the money, he maintains that he did nothing wrong and points the blame at the town employee for their carelessness.
"They dropped the money. Someone from the town should be fired for being so irresponsible," Withington expressed in a phone interview on Wednesday. "But I did nothing wrong. I just found a money bag. It was just a big joke. They wasted my time. They slandered my name. It was very upsetting."
When questioned about why he didn't take the money bag to the bank, Withington explained that it never crossed his mind. He claimed that he would have returned the money immediately if he had known the owner, likening the discovery to winning the lottery.
"I just found a bag," he stated on Wednesday. "I picked it up and I got in my car and I got on with my day."
The state prosecutor's office declined to comment, while the town attorney, Daniel Schopick, mentioned that restitution had been made, and it was the prosecutor's decision to drop the case.
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