Accused of Stealing Items Left at a Foreclosed House, Taken With Permission

My question involves personal property located in the State of: Florida

Hello all, I'm new here and this will be my first post, however probably not my last as these forums seem to contain a great wealth of knowledge useful to me. I very much need advice on this matter as I may be arrested for it within the next 5 days. I am sorry for the length of this post as well, but It's the best way I can describe the situation at hand.

I'll start off with the background. I used to live in a house owned by my grandmother however I moved out of it a few years ago. My uncle proceeded to move into the house. About 5 or 6 months ago the house was foreclosed on and auctioned off, and he left obviously. He took most of his belongings with him but left a lot of random junk behind. About two or three months ago I talked to my uncle and told him I had planned on picking up a few things from the house including some things that used to be mine. He informed me then that they(he and his family) weren't going to be getting anything else out of the house and that was fine. A few days later I went to the house and proceeded to scavenge some of his left behind belongings. A few days later I saw him out and about and talked to him telling him I had been by there and grabbed a few things. He then told me there were a few things they left that they wanted to go back and get. I told him okay if theres anything missing that you left just come by my house and ask me and I'll tell you if I have it and give it back. He acknowledged that and was fine with it. After that he never came by or asked me for things missing. Fast forward to a week ago from today. He called me wanting to know if I took an old laptop from the house and a dog kennel. I told him no I didn't see any laptop but I did get the kennel. He said okay and came to my house to get it. When he got here he noticed I had some heaters I had taken from the house as well as the kennel and wanted them back so I said okay thats fine and gave them back. He then told me nothing in the house belonged to me and I shouldn't be over there period. I told him that I was just salvaging anything left behind before the bank threw everything away, and once again mentioned that If he was missing anything, to just ask me. He said okay and told me to ask him before I took anything else from the house and I said okay. I have not been back to the house since then. Yesterday he came to my house(whom I share with his brother) so he has free access to my residence. He came inside and went through all of my belongings while I was gone, taking back what I salvaged from his house. He also went rummaged through a toolbox(also salvaged from house) on my truck and inside of my truck(though I didn't see him in the truck itself I saw things had been gone through) although I was there when this happened I only caught him as he was going through the toolbox. So I called the police and they came and pretty much said there wasn't anything I could do about any of this unless I saw him actually in the cab of my truck. This morning he came by my house and noticed a book of his from his old house sitting in my truck and took pictures and called the police on me for theft. He had an invoice from amazon.com saying that he had purchased the book. So the police came by and told me they gave him a card which he could take to the district attorney? i think and have them get an arrest warrant for me for theft of the book and toolbox on my truck and possibly the items he recovered from my residence. They said he had 5 days to decide whether or not to take the card and get the warrant for my arrest.

My questions are is this a legitimate claim? That I "stole" the items left abandoned in the foreclosed home for almost half a year? Does the bank own the items or does my uncle still own them? Was I breaking any laws by doing this? The officer that talked to me this morning said that even though the items were left there they still belonged to my uncle and I did in fact steal them. Is there anything I can do about this?


I thank you very much ahead of time for any help that you all may be able to give to me on this matter. I appreciate it, I really do.

If the foreclosure was complete entering the property was illegal so right there you have trespassing and likely breaking and entering.

Then when a house is foreclosed and once any resident has relinquished possession of the home, any property left within becomes the property of the bank. Taking any of it is theft. Your uncle could not give you permission to enter a home he no longer has possession of and be cannot gift you property he no longer owns.


The the good thing here is you uncle has no standing to have you charged with theft since none of the property was his.

Thank you for your reply! If I understand it correctly, when he goes to take the card he was given to the district attorney's office then they can't issue a warrant for my arrest based solely on his claims? The bank would have to be the one filing charges correct?

They can do anything they want. If they believe a crime was committed they can seek an arrest warrant from the courts. You would have the opportunity to defend yourself although I don't see a defense of ; I didn't steal my uncles property, I stole the banks property as being a good way to go either.

Alright. Do you have any advice on what I should do?

Don't speak to anybody about this again. Anybody you fire information to is a prospective witness against you. If arrested say nothing and hire a lawyer.

Nope, based on his testimony, your testimony and the officers, the state can charge you. They could charge him also.

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Quoting Astro11

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Thank you for your reply! If I understand it correctly, when he goes to take the card he was given to the district attorney's office then they can't issue a warrant for my arrest based solely on his claims? The bank would have to be the one filing charges correct?

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Quoting Astro11

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About 5 or 6 months ago the house was foreclosed on and auctioned off, and he left obviously. He took most of his belongings with him but left a lot of random junk behind. About two or three months ago I talked to my uncle and told him I had planned on picking up a few things from the house including some things that used to be mine. He informed me then that they(he and his family) weren't going to be getting anything else out of the house and that was fine.

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You left an important part out of your story -- what happened that caused your uncle to reconsider his position.

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Quoting Astro11

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So I called the police and they came and pretty much said there wasn't anything I could do about any of this unless I saw him actually in the cab of my truck. This morning he came by my house and noticed a book of his from his old house sitting in my truck and took pictures and called the police on me for theft.

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So... you chose to call the police on your uncle, and he returned the favor.

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Quoting Astro11

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My questions are is this a legitimate claim? That I "stole" the items left abandoned in the foreclosed home for almost half a year?

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Can you prove that your uncle said that you were free to take and keep whatever you found in the home?

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Quoting jk

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Then when a house is foreclosed and once any resident has relinquished possession of the home, any property left within becomes the property of the bank.

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Florida law appears to require specific notice to the former owner of a residence that the personal property abandoned therein is to be sold, with instruction on how it can be recovered. See Florida Statutes, Sec. 715.106.

Just deny everything.

He has access to the house and your truck, how is he going to prove that you stole those things?
He could've put them there and tried to frame you.

I think the receipt for the book is nothing to worry about, it's a book with no identifying numbers like a serial number, you could've bought the book yourself especially if it's a fairly common book.

How is he going to prove any of these accusations?

We can wait for clarification, but odds are there have already been statements to the police sufficient to establish that the book came from the foreclosed house.

To Mr. Knowitall:

1. I'm not sure what gave him the change of heart I believe it had to do with his girlfriend not liking me
2. I did choose to call the police on him because he broke into my truck and went through my belongings in my personal room in my house and took whatever he wanted while i was away without permission and after he threatened me when I told him to get away from my truck.
3. I can not prove that my uncle said anything at any time nor would he likely admit to it.

To questionforu:

Mr. Knowitall is right I already gave the police a statement and when he asked if I got the book from the house I said yes so I cannot deny taking the book.