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Receiving stolen property

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Bearycakes

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN. My father-in-law recently bought 3-4 boxes of ammunition shells from a guy he works with. The guy who was selling the shells had told him that a lady he was doing some contracting work for was a security guard and that she had several cases of shells in storage, and that she had given him these shells that she said were just loose boxes to sell to get them out of her way. My fil questioned the guy to make sure that they weren't stolen from the lady's place of work (which they weren't), but now come to find out the guy that sold them did steal them from this lady (along with lots of other miscellaneous stuff).

The lady who is the owner of the shells does not want to get my fil in trouble at all, but the only thing tying this guy to stealing her stuff is these shells. FIL is wanting to help out, and is terribly upset that someone sold him stolen property, but now the police are saying he can also be taken up on charge for receiving stolen goods if she decides to press charges against the other guy? Is the correct? Sounds crazy to me that he had no intention of aiding a thief, but could now have a criminal record over this.

Sorry for the long drawn out story just wanted to make sure I had all the details threw in there.
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
Receiving stolen property requires you to possess the property with knowledge that it was stolen (or something that a reasonable person should have suspected it was stolen) and not trying to restore it to the rightful owner.

I suspect with the cooperation of the rightful owner, it's unlikely that anything would proceed against your F-I-L.

Never take legal advice from the police. It's also unlikely that it's up to the owner to press charges if the police are involved. It is the state that prosecutes. I suspect it's more advantageous to the state to have the FIL as a witness rather than a defendant. He should however consult with a lawyer prior to any police questioning.
 

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