"Class B felony punishable by a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine up to $250,000.00."

kinda harsh for the crime committed.  I guess the guy needed the money to risk that.   

An really stupid on their part to EVEN take the ticket inside in the first place

I remember I once found a wallet with a lot of money in it. I was really poor and needed the funds but I found the driver's license and took the wallet to the address given. Being poor, I had no car so I walked it there. It took me a couple of hours being a rather long distance. I walked up to the door with my integrity intact and the owner of the wallet opened the door. I told him that I found his wallet in the street and I gave it to him. He said, "The money had better all be in there." and closed the door. Having learned a very important lesson, I walked back home.

Geena Davis told Brad Pitt about some money they had and he took off with it, leaving them high and dry which is why she held up that store.  I don't know why I thought of that scene, because it's not the same as taking a lottery ticket someone left on a table.  Maybe I just wanted to think about Brad Pitt in that pair of dungarees back in 1991.

Jeffrey writes:

"I told him that I found his wallet in the street and I gave it to him. He said, "The money had better all be in there." and closed the door. Having learned a very important lesson, I walked back home."

Jeffrey, not everyone is that ungrateful.  I hope one bad experience didn't give you a jaundiced outlook on the rest of the world.  I had a similar experience.  Once I went back to Pulix because I found an extra $20 and realized the cashier gave me too much cash back. When he counted his cash drawer, he was short $20.  I thought he'd be grateful because, where I've worked, I was responsible for the total in my register at the end of my shift.  Instead, another cashier said to me "do you know what you've done?  You probably got him in a whole lot of trouble!" and gave me a dirty look.  I think we all have similar stories.  Keep being the honest person you are and don't have expectations..your integrity isn't based on the reaction of others.

This woman never should have been a winner. How are you gonna win the top prize and not sign the ticket? Then she is on your way to lottery headquarters to cash the ticket and decide to stop and get a bite to eat and carries the ticket into the restaurant in a notebook? I guess her purse was to full from carrying makeup, combs, brushes, and what nots that the ticket wouldn't fit in there. She remembers to pay the bill and then leaves, returning about 15 minutes later to get the notebook with the ticket in it. Wasn't the whole purpose of the trip originally to cash a winning ticket???? How could she leave it??? The only person I feel sorry for was the 21 yr old guy who appears to be trying to help someone get over on paying his taxes and depriving his kids of what is owed to them. Looking at that pic I don't think he really has any kids and he would be lucky to have a dog, cat, or even a shadow. As said in earlier posts, "That is a scary pic." A pic only a mother could love.

Technically, the ticket was never "lost".  It was mislaid (or misplaced).  Therefore, under common law principles, the finder of a misplaced object has the duty to turn it over to the owner of the premises (restaurant) on the theory that the true owner is likely to return to that location to search for his/her misplaced item.  If the true owner never shows up, the property becomes that of the owner of the premises.  Therefore, the waiter/bus boy never had a right to the notebook, nor its' contents.

I commend you for your honesty!

Even though the owner of the wallet didn't appreciate your honestly, there are many people in the world that do!

Thanks!

 What in tha H-E double hockey sticks possed her to bring the ticket inside,let alone stopping in the first place.   I would have been on one wheel headin to the lottery office to cash my ticket,get my mula an head straight to the bank, Heck I would of made me a sandwhich at home an got something later... You see how money makes people act, Act a D!@ FOOL...

I don't remember the particualr post you do, but I doubt that I would have said that money isn't always a bearer instrument. The point that I have made several times is that people misunderstand what "bearer instrument" means. Some financial instruments are registered to their owner, and some aren't, and whether or not it's registered doesn't change the laws about ownership of property.  Cash is a bearer instrument, but if you lose it you still own it. It's just a matter of whether or not you're able to recover it, and how easy it is to recover.

Each individual situation will have different details, but they'll all fit into just a few catagories.  In the St John case the dispute was over whether the ticket had been lost or mislaid, or if it had been abandoned.  This case, at least as the article describes it, is a clear case of property being mislaid, but imagine that the woman had accidentally mixed it in with her dirty napkin. Her argument (like the original owner in the St John case) would be that she hadn't meant to throw it away and thereby abandon  her property. Whoever found it would have argued that it had been abandoned and that they therefore had the right to recover it. As One2Adore points out, property that is recovered on private premises generally will be awarded to the owner of those premises.

I sign any winning tickets immediately. Anything that much would go in a locked fireproof gypsum box made by Halliburton, and go directly to ELE7VEN to file a claim!

that was so dirty of him ......when they asked had he seen the notebook and he said no....

well at least she got her money.