piccini9 wrote:but why did someone bother to black it out?
If it isn't gubmint, it might be private. Somebody snooping on a cheating spouse, industrial espionage, insurance investigation, any sort of thing. In other words, somebody bugged a car without the legal right to do so, or at least suspecting it might be illegal, or just not having any desire to have that thing tracked back to them.
Heck, could be drug dealers, the mob, any sort of unsavoury character trying to work out a movement profile of someone they dislike.
Or could be some company monitoring wether employee X is really clocking up the miles he puts on his expense report.
If it's private, chances are whoever used it will just swallow the loss. No legal recourse in illegal activities, is there.
If it's gubmint, they obviously don't want anyone to know it actually is gubmint, but if they find you, they might still give you grief...you could be an accomplice, for all they know you removed the device from the target car on purpose.
"The defendant claims that this high-tech equipment somehow detached itself due to the car going over a speed bump, and he just happened to find it by the side of the road. Not only does this statement form agent whatshisname show that this would be highly unlikely, as he has many years of experience in mounting these trackers of suspect cars, but also, if he found it at the side of the road, how does the defendant happen to know the means by which the tracker was removed from the car? Members of the jury, it is obvious that he removed the tracker himself, and the only possible motive for this can be that he was paid to do so by dread crack-cocaine-terrorist Muhammed Babykiller, who remains at large because of the defendant!"
All kidding aside, I'd turn it in and avoid the possible aggro.
If there were absolutely anything to be afraid of, don't you think I would have worn pants?
I said I have a big stick.