A reporter provided an update on the case of a homeless man who found an iPhone 13 belonging to a 19-year-old university student in a trash bin at a dormitory in Mueang district, Udon Thani. The student later tracked the phone down at a market and found that the homeless man had removed the SIM card and was preparing to sell the phone. The student became angry, verbally confronted him, and said he would report the matter to police.

The homeless man said he had found the phone in the trash and had not stolen it. A deputy investigating officer from Mueang Udon Thani Police Station subsequently took him to the station.

After the story was reported, however, the student came under heavy criticism online. He appealed to netizens to stop attacking him and asked for some understanding. He admitted that he had carelessly thrown the phone into a trash bin and said he had also suffered a loss, having paid tens of thousands of baht for it. He explained that he became angry because when he called the phone, the homeless man appeared to be trying to turn it off and remove the SIM card. Although he initially intended to press charges, he eventually sympathized with the man and decided not to pursue the case.

Most recently, Pol. Lt. Col. Dittawat Thawonsinphong, deputy superintendent of investigations and head of the investigation unit at Mueang Udon Thani Police Station, explained the legal principles involved.

Generally, if someone finds another person's lost property and keeps it, they may be guilty of misappropriation if the owner has not yet been searching for it and only later tracks it down. However, if the owner promptly searches for the property and finds the person who took it, the person who kept it may instead be considered to have committed theft, in accordance with established Supreme Court precedents.

In this case, the key issue is whether the phone's owner was actively searching for it. According to the information available, the student located the phone within 10 minutes. Therefore, the homeless man could be considered to have had the intent to steal, even though the owner had accidentally or mistakenly thrown the phone into the trash. Because the owner was still actively searching for the phone, the matter could constitute a criminal offense against the state, and the owner could initiate legal proceedings by filing a police complaint.

However, in this particular case, the student reportedly does not wish to press charges.

Udon Thani Student Drops Charges Against Homeless Man Over iPhone Found in Trash