Overlawyered – December 7, 2007:

Find a wallet, go to jail? New York undercover cops have been leaving wallets and purses around in public spots in the city, then arresting anyone who picks them up and doesn’t present them to a nearby uniformed officer. Some arrestees have otherwise clean records and say they intended to use ID inside the bags to notify the rightful owners. Putting money inside the bags didn’t lead to serious enough charges, in the coppers’ view, so they began salting them with live American Express cards so that the finders could be charged with grand larceny, with four years behind bars.

Over 300 People arrested so far…

The NYPD revealed Wednesday its Operation Lucky Bag stings have snared nearly 300 people – many of whom had no rap sheet before they fell for the ruse.

Since the start of the year, there have been 100 arrests as a result of the decoy operations, in which an undercover officer “drops” a wallet, iPod or cell phone in a subway station and cops pounce after it’s picked up.