Can You Be Charged With Theft for Selling Your Ex's Property

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Quoting Dogmatique

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Is there a reason why you won't simply give him the money?

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I suspect its "can't" rather than "won't".

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Quoting llworking

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I suspect its "can't" rather than "won't".

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He'd probably be far less likely to take it further if she at least made some sort of payment plan offer, y'know?

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Quoting llworking

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At some point property does become abandoned, and if the proper procedures are followed, can be sold. The problem in this case is that the proper procedures were not followed. If they had been, the ex probably would have picked up the items.

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Yes but no procedures were followed. Him not responding to her texts is not saying he does not want the PS4 anymore. He just did not answer her texts. I know she is not a landlord but I read something about landlord/tenant situation with property left behind. Landlord has to inventory the property and keep it until the tenant says "I do not want it anymore" or something to that effect.

She still had no right to sell it.

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Quoting Kam0526

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My question involves civil rights in the State of: ohio

My childs father had moved out of my apartment two months ago and left his ps4 and tv behind. I had texted and called him multiple times asking him to come get his stuff and never got a reply. I finally decided to call the local police station to ask if i would get in trouble for selling the ps4.. i explained the situation and was told i could do what i wanted with the ps4. So i sold it and my ex showed up at my house today with the local police. The police told me the dispatcher was wrong for telling me that and i could possibly get charged for selling his property. So my ex went and filed a police report and i guess he's going to take it from there. Does anyone know if im going to get in trouble for this or get charged?

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Yes you could get charged with a misdemeanor for doing that.

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Quoting llworking

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While I do not necessarily disagree with the previous response you received, there is decent chance that the DA won't be interested in prosecuting this one, assuming that the police report is thorough.

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Don't bet on that. I have seen these cases in municipal court.

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Quoting qwaspolk69

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Yes but no procedures were followed. Him not responding to her texts is not saying he does not want the PS4 anymore. He just did not answer her texts. I know she is not a landlord but I read something about landlord/tenant situation with property left behind. Landlord has to inventory the property and keep it until the tenant says "I do not want it anymore" or something to that effect.

She still had no right to sell it.

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She had no right to sell it because she did not follow the proper procedures. However, you are incorrect that a landlord has to inventory property until the tenant says that they do not want it anymore. The landlord has to follow the procedures under state law, to have the property considered to be abandoned, but those procedures do not require the tenant to actively say that they no longer want the property.

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Quoting Ohiogal

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Yes you could get charged with a misdemeanor for doing that.

Don't bet on that. I have seen these cases in municipal court.

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I am not betting on it, but it seems unlikely if the police report is thorough.

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Quoting llworking

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I am not betting on it, but it seems unlikely if the police report is thorough.

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the more thorough the report the clearer the illegal action becomes.

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Quoting jk

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the more thorough the report the clearer the illegal action becomes.

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I think that if the report is thorough it mitigates things. The OP clearly tried to get information from the police as to whether or not what she intended to do was legal. Its not her fault that someone at the police department gave her a wrong answer. That does not entirely excuse her but it is a mitigating factor.

It still doesn't change the fact that she needs to find a way to pay him. Why she spent the money - which has to be the case if she can't pay it back all at once - is beyond me.

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Quoting llworking

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I think that if the report is thorough it mitigates things. The OP clearly tried to get information from the police as to whether or not what she intended to do was legal. Its not her fault that someone at the police department gave her a wrong answer. That does not entirely excuse her but it is a mitigating factor.

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Of course you are assuming the dispatcher will support the op's claim the dispatcher told them they could get rid of it. Unless the call was recorded and the recording available I suspect the dispatcher will deny ever giving such advice.