Arrested at Las Vegas airport...for a cell phone!!!

[joey77]

I got into trouble last month at Las Vegas airport, i took a cell phone that wasnt mine at the security checkpoint. I got arrested about 30min later when under posession of stolen goods and charged with grand larceny. I have no priors and the officer that made the arrest said that he will be "gentle" on his report, saying that i was cooperative, im inclined to think that he will put in his report that it wasnt intentional but i´m just guessing.

Well i wasnt violent or pickpocketed this person, or much less took it by force. This thing was just laying in these trays and I felt pretty stupid when they arrested me.
The video could probably show probable cause, i mean that i intentionally took it but i dont know if taking something that´s just laying there constitutes grand larceny.

What should I do? I dont even live in Vegas, i reside in San Antonio TX and most lawyers want to charge me $3,500dlls.

what should I do? of course I would plead not guilty but what are my chances with a Public Defender? a former prosecutor and now criminal lawyer said that the State would have to fly back the owner of the cell phone at the preliminary hearing and that is VERY unlikely to happen bc the county court is basically broke and they would not spend more $$ anyway.
I´m willing to spend money on a private lawyer, i just don´t know if that would make a huge difference considering the seriousness of the case (again, it´s just a cell phone!!!)

I have a non-refundable ticket to Vegas and private lawyers can be there for me, i didn`t know this before i bought the ticket, so now i`m stuck with a $350 air/hotel package that will go to waste if I don´t use it, thats why I was considering going to court myself and make a not guilty plea.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! -josh

So what happened with you case? This just happened to my on Friday morning. I was rushing through security and picked up someone's by accident. They came up asked me about and I said sorry, I must have picked it up as I rushed through. The person received his cell phone back and everything. I was absolutely astonished.