There’s penalties if the owner manages to prove ownership which is excessively difficult even with video. The law hinges on knowing to be theft and proving ownership also means proving you didn’t abandon it and along with littering the fact it is abandoned when it was found is an affirmative defense, the owner would be the one to jump through hoops to prove, it’s theirs and they did not abandon it.
There’s penalties if the owner manages to prove ownership which is excessively difficult even with video. The law hinges on knowing to be theft and proving ownership also means proving you didn’t abandon it and along with littering the fact it is abandoned when it was found is an affirmative defense, the owner would be the one to jump through hoops to prove, it’s theirs and they did not abandon it.