Can a Tenant Be Fined for Taking and Keeping an Exit Sign Found on the Ground

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Maryland

I live in an apartment complex near a college university. My roommate's friend brought into the apartment an exit sign he found on the ground which was hit down by someone else in the hallways. Management came into the apartment one day to check a repair on something else and saw the exit sign. A picture was taken and each person (I have four roommates) was charged $125 as a fee. I was not involved in him taking the exit sign. Nowhere in the lease agreement does it state that an exit sign found in the room would incur a charge. Am I obligated to pay the fine? Thanks guys.

Nope, you can just go to jail for possession of stolen property.

Presumably the charge is predicated upon the assumption that your roommates damaged the sign -- that is, it's probably the repair charge. If the sign has already been replaced, it could be the replacement cost necessitated by your roommate's decision to steal the sign such that it could not be put back in place.

If you find your landlord's property on the ground after somebody else damages it, your best approach is to inform your landlord. If you choose to safeguard the property, you can inform your landlord that it's in your possession. If you decide that it's on the ground so you can just steal it, you're going to create the possibility that your landlord will believe that you caused the damage or that your landlord will conclude that you are the vandal and (as Disagreeable suggests) that you stole his property.

Quote:

---

Quoting Sahel

---

Am I obligated to pay the fine? Thanks guys.

---

You condoned and abetted the crime.