Do the Right Thing: Electronic Drum Theft
The kids are starting to take music lessons and one of them wants to play the drums. We wisely decided to choose an electronic set of drums so that we don't go completely insane from the banging.
We went to the store, played some instruments, and picked up a drum set.
When I went to pull the box out of the truck at home, I noticed that they did not give me the $399 Alesis Nitro Max, but rather had given me the $599 Alesis Command X.
So, what is the right thing to do in this situation?
Alesis Nitro Max - $399
Alesis Command X - $599
Apparently, there are numerous people online and even some kids in our homeschool co-op that think you can just keep the more expensive drum set because the store mistakenly gave you the wrong item.
If I kept the more expensive drum set, then I would have been stealing $200 from Guitar Center.
Morally this shouldn't be controversial.
God calls you to do what you say you'll do and not to wrong people.
And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor,
you shall not wrong one another.
Leviticus 25:14
NKJV
A just balance and scales are the Lord's;
all the weights in the bag are his work.
Proverbs 16:11
NKJV
This really isn't that hard, but apparently people want to be able to justify to themselves that it wouldn't be morally or ethically wrong to keep the more expensive drum set. And they may be able to convince themselves that they are in the right.
Oregon law, however, confirms that keeping the more expensive drum set is in fact a crime; specifically, Theft in the Second Degree, an A Misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $6,250 fine.
(1) A person commits the crime of theft in the second degree if:
(a) By means other than extortion, the person commits theft as defined in ORS 164.015 (“Theft” described); and
(b) The total value of the property in a single or aggregate transaction is $100 or more and less than $1,000.
(2) Theft in the second degree is a Class A misdemeanor.
ORS 164.045
A person commits theft when, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate property to the person or to a third person, the person:
(2) Commits theft of property lost, mislaid or delivered by mistake as provided in ORS 164.065 (Theft of lost, mislaid property);
ORS 164.015
A person who comes into control of property of another that the person knows or has good reason to know to have been lost, mislaid or delivered under a mistake as to the nature or amount of the property or the identity of the recipient, commits theft if, with intent to deprive the owner thereof, the person fails to take reasonable measures to restore the property to the owner.
ORS 164.065
Of course, I am a criminal defense attorney.
I can make arguments as to why keeping the more expensive electronic drum set should not be considered wrong, let alone criminal.
And if the State actually did decide to charge you with Theft II, I would almost certainly get you off of the hook completely or with a slap on the wrist.
However, none of those "legal arguments" changes the basic moral truth that knowingly keeping the more expensive electronic drum set would be wrong.
