New York – The lawyer representing a “good samaritan” who was arrested in the controversial “Operation Lucky Bag” sting currently being run by the NYPD has filed a class action suit against the city that could also ultimately affect hundreds of others caught in the sting.
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The NEW YORK DAILY NEWS (http://nydn.us/11V7Uzc) reports that the NYPD sting, “Operation Lucky Bag,” consists of police placing a clearly “protruding” wallet hanging from an “unattended” bag or backpack outside a store, while plainclothes detectives waylay nearby, out-of-sight, waiting for someone to snatch the wallet up.
Spiridon Argyros, 37, a manager at the Gemini Diner in midtown, with a lengthy history of returning items left behind by customers and local residents, was caught in the sting last May after he took the wallet with the intentions of “returning” it to its rightful owner.
Argyros was surrounded by plainclothes detectives and spent four hours at the109th Precinct where he was charged with petty larceny.
Argyros’ attorney, Norman Seigel, has obtained an NYPD inter-department memo from the deputy commissioner of legal matters, dated five months before Argyros’ arrest, which clearly spells out that a person “cannot” be arrested for petty larceny for not instantly returning found property to the nearest police officer, and that they have 10 days to turn it in.
This is crazy, I had read about these stings.
If they have to many police officers, just cut the budget and get rid of some. Stop harassing people.
These lowlife cops should be detained!!!! What chutzpah! It is appalling that this be allowed to happen.
What is actually the police doing with property turned in to them? Do they have a lost and found department? are they taking it for themselves?
Someone should try to turn something in, and then track it, and have another reason for a class action law suit.
I think this fellow has a great case against NYPD/NYC. The PD were acting against their own internal orders…and this has to be considered entraptment. I am an NYPD supporter but his arrest is just plain wrong.
Wouldn’t someone who’s taking it to return it take the whole bag, not just the wallet?
#justsayin…
Without people like Norman Siegal NYC would be a complete dictatorship…
What do they think? If you see a wallet laying on the street just ignore it? How stupid!