Finders keeper, losers weepers ... Alfred Boyadgis / Pic: Bradley Hunter Source: The Sunday Telegraph
IT'S the $11,000 question: if you found a bag of cash left at a fast food restaurant would you keep it or hand it in?
If you chose to keep the money you could end up like Alfred Boyadgis - charged with theft and slapped with a criminal record.
Boyadgis, a 22-year-old design student, was ending a night out with friends at the McDonald's restaurant in St Peters when he spotted a leather bag left at one of the tables.
After grabbing the bag, Boyadgis looked inside it several times before quickly leaving the restaurant, according to documents tendered to the Sydney District Court.
When he opened the bag, he found a wad of notes totalling $11,700, a Victorian driver's licence, a Medicare card, an iPhone, a swipe card for the Novotel Hotel and other items.
The bag had been left behind by a man who Boyadgis thought could have been a drug dealer.
Using McDonald's CCTV footage and details of transactions he made with his keycard, police tracked Boyadgis down and decided to charge him with larceny because he made no attempt to hand in the bag or the cash.
Boyadgis pleaded guilty in Newtown Local Court in February and was slapped with a 12-month good behaviour bond, which comes with a criminal record.
The 22-year-old told The Sunday Telegraph it was a split second reaction and he never thought he was stealing the money, which he eventually handed to police.
"It's a human thing - pose a question: if someone is going to put that much money in front of you, what would you do?" Boyagdis said. "Would you take it?"
"If someone was there I would have given it back to them," he said.
"I didn't go and spend the money irresponsibly."
He said he split the money with his friends and spent a portion of his share on university textbooks.
Boyadgis appealed against the severity of his punishment, claiming a criminal record could hamper his ability to travel while working as a designer.
When The Sunday Telegraph spoke with Boyadgis he was preparing to attend a designer award ceremony.
While at university, he designed a high-tech police helmet which included an automatic radio channel, GPS and visual display.
At a district court hearing on Tuesday, his barrister, Greg James QC, told the court Boyadgis had no prior criminal record and a conviction would affect him "greatly".
Mr James asked the court to give Boyadgis a section 10 bond - meaning he admitted to the offence but would not have a criminal record.
He told the court if Boyadgis been a "more mature person" he may have avoided the situation, and that he was deeply remorseful.
In rejecting the appeal, Chief Judge Reg Blanch said the theft was "deliberate" and the explanation was "not enough".
A source familiar with the case said it was a rare decision on a larceny charge.
"I think 99 out of 100 people would have seen the cash and thought 'finders keepers'," the source said.
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