Man Found Not Guilty of Embezzling Lost iPad in Suwon Court

A man in his 50s, who was taken to trial for keeping someone else’s lost iPad for over a month, was found not guilty in both the first and second trials.

Suwon High Court Criminal Division 1 (Judges Moon Joo-hyung, Kim Min-sang, and Kang Young-jae) announced on the 17th that it had found Mr. A, who was indicted on charges of embezzlement of lost property, not guilty, as in the original trial.

Person A was brought to trial on charges of embezzling property that had been taken out of Person B’s possession without returning it and taking the iPad worth 1 million won that Person B had lost on a badminton court bench in the apartment complex on the afternoon of November 7, 2022.

The police who received the report at the time checked the CCTV footage and visited Mr. A’s house on December 21 of the same year.

Person B claimed during the police investigation that the name tag and photos of his dog attached to the iPad had been removed, and that this did not appear to be the actions of someone who intended to return the iPad. He also testified that the defendant had intentions of making illegal gains, as the message “iPad cannot be used” appeared on the screen due to a failure to unlock the password and all data was deleted.

The court explained, “Considering that the defendant’s spouse left a comment on the victim’s post about the lost iPad on December 30 of the same year saying, ‘If you contact us, we will discuss how to return it,’ and that she arbitrarily submitted the iPad to the police, it is difficult to see that she avoided the victim’s request to return it.” The court added, “If we examine it closely against the evidence that the lower court legally adopted and investigated, the lower court’s decision to declare her not guilty is justified.”