Found Money

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - How can you be arrested for theft if you only spent money that was in your bank account? A man in Bensalem, Pennsylvania just found out the hard way.

When Wells Fargo accidentally deposited an extra $69,000 dollars into a 22-year-old man's bank account last month, he did what many of us would. He spent it. On a car, airline tickets, and even bought a dog.

I hope he bought a dog house, cause that's where he is right now. He was arrested and charged with theft. But how can that be?

It wasn't his fault that the bank put extra money in his account. Which is true. But it is his fault that, having realized he had gotten the money in error, he took it and spent what he knew not to be his money. On the playground, the rules are finders keepers. But in real life if you know that there's $69,000 – or any money — that was sent to you in error, it's your legal obligation to give it back.

I hope he saved some of his own money for legal fees.