Possession of Stolen Property Charges Over a Purchased Item

My question involves police conduct in the State of: CA
My son was walking down the street on a Sunday @ 12N when he was stopped by a sheriff for a PEDCHK. He is 18 and 2 mts old. He consented to having his backpack being checked. The sheriff found a Kendall Fire Tablet.(11-29 Subject has no record or current wants.) One of the 2 weekly newspapers said the serial # was called in and came back stolen. The Officer told him it came back stolen My kid told him he had the receipts for it at home. It seemed not to matter.The sheriff arrested and booked him in jail {496 Possession of stolen property} a felony charge. I listened from beginning to end of the entire incident and never heard mention of it. or coming back stolen. I had 2 officers come to my home; I allowed them to search his room with out a search warrant. I told them he had the receipts and we used my CDL for the warranty (son doesn't have CDL or CID.) They said they would tell Arresting officer. I have tried to make an appointment to pick up all of his property from the clerk but was told he had to check with arresting officer. clerk called me back 4 days later; He said i could get everything except the tablet. The officer and a detective was still working the case and that he had told the officer that I had in my possession the CASH receipts from best buy. clerk said if i hadn't heard back from the officer by Friday or over the weekend to call him back Mon. or Tues. and he would see what he could do. (5-6 more days). Our newspapers have said that the sheriffs have lost the trust of the community and the residents are afraid of the sheriff's bulling and too walk down the street at any time of day because these PEDCHKS have gotten out of control. Their do what they want when they want attitudes and actions toward the residents. Age doesn't matter. A older man was handcuffed and demeaned for picking black berry's, A elder woman was walking with bags of groceries from the store and was stopped.

What can i legally do for my son and hope they don't arrest or put me in jail on some bogus charge? is a civil suit viable? Can and what the community do if anything? question involves criminal law for the state of: CA

Did anybody ever actually produce a receipt for the tablet and provide it to the police as proof the tablet was not stolen?

Not yet . but I keep telling them I have it, I figured next week Monday when i go up to pick up at least part of my sons belongs I planed on taking the receipts with me anyway

Quote:

---

Quoting DUG

---

Not yet . but I keep telling them I have it, I figured next week Monday when i go up to pick up at least part of my sons belongs I planed on taking the receipts with me anyway

---

Until you show the police the receipts you have done nothing to prove your son's innocence. You should have done that first thing.

Because the receipt doesn't have the serial # on it it was like they don't care. They asked if I had the owners manual? Well I am assuming my son has it some where but what good is the Owners manual going to do if he didn't write the serial # in it area that is provided for all that info. Even I don't do that

If you're telling us that you and your son are going to refuse to do anything that might get him out of the charge, there's not much we can do for you.

You claimed earlier that you registered a warranty. That would involve registering the serial number. It's also possible that the vendor has a record of the serial number for the sale, as they typically try to upsell customers into buying extended warranties at the point of sale and for that they need a serial number.

Best Buy will have records of the serial numbers on things like that. They do it for their own protection on returns as much as anything else.

Make a copy of the receipt, and turn the original over to the police.

If you take the original receipt into Best Buy, they should be able to print out a second copy.

I have already made copy's Sheriffs have orig. with my copys can i still go to best buy and get copys from them

- - - Updated - - -

I remember the customer care man saying that "They do it for their own protection on returns as much as for the customer" when he scanned my ID.

To use the kindle, your son may have needed to register it first with Amazon. You can't download anything until the device is recognized as personally belonging to someone, at least that's been the case in my experience with a kindle and other devices like it. Registering is usually done soon after purchase and first use. Can your son prove this specific kindle is registered to him? A registration date that matches or is close to the purchase receipt would help, I'd think.