Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

As a rule, the law does not permit "self-help." What you should have done when you realized your briefcase and money were missing was report it to the police. What you should do now is consult with an attorney. If charges were truly dropped, you may have gotten quite a break but you do have a risk of charges being brought for the items that you took and those that were found in your possession. Each case is fact specific, so you need to speak to a qualified attorney and discuss all of the facts of your case before proceeding. If your money is still missing, you ought to report it to the police and consider consulting a civil attorney to recover the money.