I have several class rings that were foolishly lost by someone years ago. Should I return them!!??

[dixiedigger57]

Georgia Criminal code states:

16-8-6 : a person committs the offense of theft of lost or misplaced property when he comes into control of property that he knows or learns to have been lost or mislaid and appropriates the property to his own use without first taking reasonable measures to restore the property to the owner.

over $500 value its a felony. Theft by Receiving is a rewrite of possession of stolen goods.

it is easy to charge someone with this, although it might not be prosecuted.

example : you find a class ring--a year later you sell your scrap. our jurisdiction requires the buyer to turn in a description card on all items, pawn, jeweler, scrap yard etc... The ring had been stolen and tossed or dropped. by someone. you found it. you are in possession of either stolen goods or lost or misplaced property. you get arrested. maybe the case goes away. maybe you did or did not try to find the owner. you did not turn it in to the police as lost or misplaced, run an add or put up a notice. descretion lies with the officer and prosecutor. and jury and judge.

example: you find a ring on the beach. you sell your scrap, the card is turned in and a report is filed on lost property at the beach, or possibly theft, they laid it by the towel or it fell out of their shoes..whatever... maybe insurance claim. an arrest may happen.

anyway its gonna cost you--money, embarrassment, humiliation, make people look at you with suspicion.

you return a ring and are accused of stealing it and maybe cursed out.

or as i did, return a ring lost over 50 years to an 86 year old lady and watch the tears of joy, then get told the person who introed you to the hobby was her relative. story another time.

i return when i can if a name. with search programs that i have access to for criminal cases, you can find people. all they have to do is pay a bill, get mail, have a phone, utility, job basically exist, even a street bum that gets arrested. it can be returned--dont kid yourself. the net provides a lot of info period.

The deep sea explorer Odysssey found the 500,000 silver coins, and were forced to give every single one back to Spain. Spain paid NADA! Odyssey lost millions. Court in USA ruled against Odyssey and a military plane flew it away. now they say we know where its at, we will get it for a fee/split ya want it? or go get/find it yourself. Britain just signed several contracts.

just cause we find it, it's not ours. a local park stopped hunting because of that. some archeologists would rather something be lost forever than someone else find it. govt same way.

some people crush and obliterate. if it is a serial number--some diamonds have a laser etched number visible with a loop on the edge of a facet (Sears rings had) that is traceable. if removed and proved--possossion of an article with an altered identification number.

i doubt many cases are actually made, but they could be, and seen some.

REAL Rolex watches are numbered, as well as others, and registered. call the factory.

the old police saying "You might beat the rap but you wont beat the ride" (a trip to jail and court). seen that ride happen a lot knowing the case was going to be tossed.

well so much for the soap box. thirty plus years dealing with the law for a living i know a little, not all.

i keep my unmarked pieces and look for notices or adds. and have returned some then too, finding the owner. after a while i scrap. but it is actually a risk. slight but a risk.

the choice is yours so are the consequences sometimes too. hh

the reward is a clean conscience.

honesty is the best policy

[RyanChappell]

If I was going to return a ring I would do all the research myself. I would not trust a secretary at a school or police officer to return a ring or even find the owner.

What if they the ring has been replaced by insurance, which is commonly sold along with the ring this last 10-15 years? You are putting $300 drug money into some 25 year old's pocket, and he is wearing the replacement ring when you call him?

Insurance companies should partner with with the ringfinders website, and notify them of lost rings to be found through a system, that provides more leads to those that actually find and return the rings to the insurance company, receiving 20-50% of melt as reward, increasing depending on your percentage found, or atleast give us a way of checking to see if a claim was filed.

[demyansk1942]

I will keep the rings even though I don't find any like digger27. Ryan is correct, when people lose rings they consider it gone, never to be seen again, a lesson in life and valuables, I don't care about that ring since it was from my ex-girlfriend, oh - I bought it for 500 bucks but now gold has gone up and insurance will just give me another one,

well, if I want to find the ring i will get a MD and find it. Think about it, if you lost a ring wouldn't you have some idea of where it was lost? For the most of us the answer would be a big fat Olympic Gold YES!!!!

I would get a MD and find it. Maybe, our next olympic sport? Metal detecting?

By the way, forget Georgia and what they say - once this story gets on Fox news about being prosecuted for finding a ring that was lost years ago and the law is going after you will see some real change. meanwhile -politicians and govt workers are going on vacations on the tax payers dime. Any prosecutor trying to prosecute someone in this situation would be run out of office. What about the 20 dollar bill I find with someone social security number on it? Do I return that?

I prob would return a ring but this gets ridiculous at times, metal detecting is NOT a charity service - yeah, I'll return the ring and let the IRS allow me to consider the return a tax write-off. Let's see someone try that, then again if you hold onto it then its still LOST

[dixiedigger57]

i am a retired police officer. and yes class rings get traced and are seized, it does not matter if not prosecuted, the scrap dealer goes after the seller for his money. seen a lot of them. some guys obliterate the ring, crush it, and then some places wont take it. its a different world here. new scrap and precious metal laws enacted july 1st 2012 by legislature statewide. and examples were made out of a few already. arrests and citations.

subroggation lies on the individual and insurance company. laws on that too. our insurance is high enough. we pay for the non compliant. we all pay.

the high road. regardless of the other people. been there with them being ugly, probably will again. will always take the high road. THATS JUST ME! hh and have a blessed day.

[Stevefromohio]

The only time I return a ring is when I am asked to look for one recently lost.
I've done that 6 times and each time I found their ring. It sure was a good feeling to help people out. That being said......

If I find a ring, it is mine. If I am asked to find a ring, it is theirs if I find it. I can't justify spending time looking for the owner. I figure they know it was lost and they have gotten over it. If the owner is really obvious, like having their name inscribed on the ring, then I try to find the owner. If it is a class ring and no name, then it is mine. If it is a Superbowl Ring, then.........uhm.......well.....

[demyansk1942]

steve has a good line on it. However, let me ask you guys this, say you find a class ring, can you get a finders fee or something like that?

[joeb1999]

Did you say you have "access" to a data base an may use it for reasons outside of law enforcement, ie for personal pursuit of a hobby? Just curious, maybe I misread something here.

Originally Posted by dixiedigger57

i am a retired police officer. and yes class rings get traced and are seized, it does not matter if not prosecuted, the scrap dealer goes after the seller for his money. seen a lot of them. some guys obliterate the ring, crush it, and then some places wont take it. its a different world here. new scrap and precious metal laws enacted july 1st 2012 by legislature statewide. and examples were made out of a few already. arrests and citations.

subroggation lies on the individual and insurance company. laws on that too. our insurance is high enough. we pay for the non compliant. we all pay.

the high road. regardless of the other people. been there with them being ugly, probably will again. will always take the high road. THATS JUST ME! hh and have a blessed day.

[dixiedigger57]

i cannot use it for personal use, it is monitored and logged with a case no# per law. However, the police have the same site with less restrictions, and can locate people. we find them in investigations for court purposes only. ours has a dockett number. witness subpoenas for example. If the police have a name on an article, they can trace the name, find a match and locate that person. credit bureaus have access, limited, to these sites. and the net itself has a ton of public stuff. searching the net is an artform itself, county records and stuff public info. NONONO cannot locate a ring owner can i at my job. But the police dept can with a report number of FOUND PROPERTY for example. it is an open investigation.

again too much is open to the public on the net for anyone-- you can find people!

[Cfmct]

Premelt the rings by carat problem solved... I know someone who has done that...

[zeemang]

I'll just throw my 2 centavos in here: I find several rings per year that have just two names inscribed, say jose and maria ( Fairly common names, i live in mexico) and maybe a wedding date or anniversary date... Who knows if these two are local or were visiting on a cruise ship or came from another part of mexico on vacation.... There would be NO way to track down the legitimate owners...
That ring is mine and the bottom line is it's going to be melted...

[Cfmct]

Originally Posted by zeemang

I'll just throw my 2 centavos in here: I find several rings per year that have just two names inscribed, say jose and maria ( Fairly common names, i live in mexico) and maybe a wedding date or anniversary date... Who knows if these two are local or were visiting on a cruise ship or came from another part of mexico on vacation.... There would be NO way to track down the legitimate owners...
That ring is mine and the bottom line is it's going to be melted...

Small world Zee... Almost every ring I find has the initials ARA on the inside of the band

[dixiedigger57]

everyone has to make their own choice. i stand behind an exhaustive search, done legally, to return, a marked piece. or turn it in to the police. unmarked is a bit different.

i was living without it before. the hunt is my hobby, the keepers and the returns too my reward. having lost everything once before in my life, it is a pleasure, whether appreciated or not to restore something to someone. the good, the bad, the ungrateful, whatever.

my choice my decision i spent 28 yrs recovering property for people as a detective. so i am used to it. i still work investigations in another capacity and follow the law. the one thing i cannot afford to loose is my integrity.

honor above all.

case closed.

[Dark Chameleon]

Originally Posted by dixiedigger57

everyone has to make their own choice. i stand behind an exhaustive search, done legally, to return, a marked piece. or turn it in to the police. unmarked is a bit different.

i was living without it before. the hunt is my hobby, the keepers and the returns too my reward. having lost everything once before in my life, it is a pleasure, whether appreciated or not to restore something to someone. the good, the bad, the ungrateful, whatever.

my choice my decision i spent 28 yrs recovering property for people as a detective. so i am used to it. i still work investigations in another capacity and follow the law. the one thing i cannot afford to loose is my integrity.

honor above all.

case closed.

I understand the police and the ingrates that say not so much as a grunt for you returning something...im not in it for the money (yes rare, i know), and would love to have things i can return but as too many detectorists find out its the constant lack of thanks, not even monitarily but a heartfelt thankyou.

The end point of you returning things when you were a cop is that it was your job to return them...as a detectorist it isnt my job to find other peoples things unless im being paid as you were as a cop.

I'm returning things based on my moral stance, detectorists stance and perchance of a reward or thankyou, if you look at the rules of detecting, nowhere does it mention to return finds, its a personal choice and if you goto ebay you'll find blobs of 14k, 18k etc of gold...you goto youtube and you'll see guides of how to melt gold or equal carat or to purify it so everything comes out 24k.

Its not illegal to melt gold and i have considered it not to hide the history of my purchases..i buy gold and i have my sales receipts from ebay and others to prove im not handling stolen goods and keep them way longer then the items but i have the legal right to melt them down or purify them if i wish.

Unfortunatly this does offer a way for thieves and crooks to 'dehistory' stolen goods, like they say 'gold has no memory', someone can legally sell a 1oz chunk of melted 14k as they can a nugget they find and their only worry would be if they make more then $600 in a tax year profit.

I look forward to returning rings i find...to me its like getting a chance to return someone to that item that even if replaced isnt the same as your origonal..i know id feel that way if my wedding ring was lost then replaced by insurance, one was bought with money, one was given to me on my wedding day by my wife.

As i tend to scan local places theres a good chance that what i find will belong to a resident or former resident...if i happen to get some local advertising from a local paper and get more permissions then so be it...i can handle that...if not then i returned something that meant something, the rings i buy tend to be wedding rings and are sold due to needing the money, death, divorce or destruction (when the hospitals have to cut them off), not a great thought but i buy because they sell..and i pay 100% melt.

I have no moral obligation to make things right, i just like to....if i hold onto someones ring long enough to win a prize at my local md cliub before returning then so be it...

[njal]

Great thread! Some very good points on both sides of the fence
on this topic.

We got us some real life PIRATES on this site.

[PI JOE]

Originally Posted by njal

Great thread! Some very good points on both sides of the fence
on this topic.

We got us some real life PIRATES on this site.

We're alive and well here in CT.!!

[njal]

Originally Posted by PI JOE

We're alive and well here in CT.!!

Oh boy I see that!!

Joe what ever ya do don't go for a boat ride with Craig,I have
a feeling he will make you walk the plank!!!

[demyansk1942]

maybe we can return all the rings and donate the proceeds to the occupy wall street protesters who don't work. You better save those proceeds b/c your money will dry up soon, Melt those suckers

[dixiedigger57]

the 86 yr old lady i returned it to cried. her husband long gone, he lost the ring. she died two years later. her daughter has the ring. her cousin i found out later was who introduced me to the hobby, handed me my first unit. i also met a string of good friends in this saga, and set an example of returning to my daughters.

i discussed this thread with my seasoned long time lawyers. they agreed with me, do the right thing when you can, cover your butt too. Christian, atheist and agnostic lawyers all agreed. liberal and conservatives, new ones too.


laugh critisize applaud sneer ignore joke agree disagree its your right to have an opinion i am open minded enough to listen whether i agree or not.

its do unto others as you would have them do unto you
NOT do unto others and run.

there is a story in a certain book about a good samaritan..... its a great reference book for life...

he who dies with the most toys....is none the less dead.