I hope all is well for you, but I can understand were they are coming from and you as well. I own a residential and commercial development company and ever since the economy took a hit people have been taking anything and everything from my job sites, and yes, even from the dumpster. I mean everything from scrap metal to man- hole cover to copper wiring. Over the last 6 months I have had 9 people arrested for taking from a job site, however only one has stood trial thus far.
So this might put a little ease on you. When the cops caught this guy he had taking from my job site the following:
16 Rolls of Flashing, 7 man-hole cover, 4 glass doors, and 300 pound roll of copper wiring. Long story short, the trespassing sign had been pushed over w/ signs that it had been this way prior to him trespassing/stealing. He got off w/ 2000 dollar fine & 2 years probation since the items were recovered. And he got all this from an appointed county attorney.
Not saying by any means you were in the wrong. I have people call me or show up at the job site if they can get the scrap metal from the site and/or dumpster…. I had no problem w/ this at all…. One man’s trash is another man treasure.
So my comment is… If this guy got off after taking all this and you were taking for a dumpster, hopefully you will be ok.
Good luck