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Originally Posted by Archaea
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The law of abandoned property is helpful here. Where I live, something is abandoned if it is found under circumstances which would leave a reasonable person to believe that the true owner intended to renounce title to it. If all that is true, finders keepers applies.
The lock is pretty strong evidence that the owner intended to keep title. But what if I drove by the bike, locked up on a public bike rack, every day for a month. Every day for a year. At some point, the passage of time leads the reasonable person to believe that true owner is never coming back.
I would need to know more here. What was it chained to? How long was it there? What condition was it in? I can easily think of a hypothetical where one would be justified in cutting a lock and removing something that had been abandoned.
My sense here, however, is that it couldn't have been there long enough for that to be a reasonable conclusion. So either the kids are lying to cover up what amounts to a crime of opportunity, or they are profoundly stupid.