[jneal]

This is no different from real life scenarios. Suppose someone stole a $5000 ring, sold it for $2500. The ring is still stolen, the police can and will confiscate the ring, so the buyer is out of the $5000 ring and their $2500 paid for the stolen property. The ring is stolen from the owner, the money is stolen from the buyer.

[galvin]

If the police confiscate the ring they will return it to the original owner, they don't just keep it.

[marincounty]

Yea--keep the loot; won't bother to retrieve stolen bikes at flea markets; cruise the streets looking for marginal DUI's; always handing out tickets for marginal infractions. I look at them as Tax Collectors. For protection, I would have more luck printing out a Physibe gun.