Man Charged With Theft After Taking $2K from Lost Wallet

When 51-year old Ramon Najera found a wallet containing $2,000, police say he took the cash and left the wallet.

Najera was arrested by Leander Police and now faces a felony charge of theft. A police report goes on to state that Najera picked up the wallet after the owner dropped it and that he did not attempt to find the owner.

Former prosecutor, now Defense Attorney, Mindy Montford, says proving Najera committed a moral crime may be easier than proving he broke any laws in a courtroom.

"I think a lot of people would argue while this may unconscionable to some and maybe he might get convicted in a court of morality I'm not so sure that he could get convicted in a court of law just based on what the statute says," Montford said.

While police have surveillance video, they no longer have a victim that can testify in court.

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The man who owned the wallet died last month, roughly three weeks after the incident occurred.

Montford says, the prosecution could still go forward with the case.

"In a much more egregious situation, let's take a murder case, you clearly don't have a victim there so you still go forward and so there not going to have to have the victim present to prosecute this case. They've certainly got surveillance video. They can prove up that this was his wallet possibly through other means and so I really don't think that if they want to go forward it would prevent them, but I think in the interest of justice it might not go forward," Montford said.