To go shopping at Alvor's and got there a few minutes early looked down at these steel ingots and saw no red "steal" over them. I checked a few times. So I took them. A guard runs over. "Those were just laying around? Great find." They didn't say "stolen" in my inventory either. I hope the game didn't glitch. But it was funny considering I was going to buy them anyway to upgrade Lydia's armor.

Yeah, Alvor will send you hired thugs to "teach you a lesson". And it's Riverwood not Riverdale.

If you went with Hadvar at the beginning, Alvor will allow you to take things under a certain value from the forge.