I lost my wallet recently and the person that picked it up contacted me. She arranged a meeting place and time, and a few hours later I was ...

Question

I lost my wallet recently and the person that picked it up contacted me. She arranged a meeting place and time, and a few hours later I was there early and stayed an hour past the meeting time. She never showed up and stopped replying to my calls/texts. I asked (via text) if she could drop it off to the nearest police station or mail it to me (saying that I would pay for any postage and give her a reward in either case). I also asked if I could pick it up myself. She never replied.

My question is, does her initial efforts count as "reasonable and just

efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to him" from CA Penal Code 485?

Answer

They have to make due diligence in returning the property. This does seem like it... Call the police.

Answer

I agree with Mr. Green. The woman made reasonable efforts to find the owner, but it does not sound like she made any effort at all to restore the property. She has to do both. Doing only the first is not enough. It's time to get the police involved.

Good luck.