A Texas barber recently found more than $128,000 in cash and checks abandoned on top of a Bank of America ATM in Lewisville, Texas.
“The bag was just sitting there,” Lewisville Police Detective Gina Miller told NBC DFW. “It looked like it was just left there by accident.”
He walked up to the ATM and saw the money sitting there in a bag
The discovery of $128,514 in cash in a bag, along with a smaller bag containing 19 checks, occurred at an ATM on West Main Street in Lewisville. The barber said he saw it sitting there as he walked up to the ATM.
“Based on some of the contents of the bag, the citizen believed that it belonged to a Chick-fil-A down the road. So he took it to that Chick-fil-A in hopes of returning it to the rightful owner. It did not belong to that Chick-fil-A, so the citizen, with Chick-fil-A standing there, they went ahead and called 911 to have officers come and secure the money,” said Lewisville Chief of Police Brook Rollins.
After responding to his call, police determined the money belonged to a nearby bank and believed ATM maintenance personnel were the ones who left the money there on top of the ATM.
“It belonged to a bank locally, and we believe that the people that were servicing the machine inadvertently left the bag there when they were servicing the machine,” Rollins said. “And so by the time that detective got the report and started working it, the bank had already reached out knowing that we had taken custody of it and was in the process of working to recover that money.”
The man who returned the money asked to remain anonymous
The 37-year-old man who found the bag full of money wished to remain anonymous, received no reward, and wanted no public recognition. He reportedly said he would accept official recognition from the Lewisville Police Department as long as the presentation remained confidential.
“To find that kind of money, or that amount of money, is certainly rare,” Chief of Police Rollins said. “And then to not find it connected to any criminal activity is certainly unusual.”
Rollins added: “This person didn’t blink. They took it directly to where they thought it was supposed to be.”
Of course, had he kept the money, under the law, appropriating found property valued between $30,000 and $150,000 with intent to deprive the owner is a third-degree felony, punishable by 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. (This is something a bartender in Australia learned the hard way.)
When local media asked about the incident, Brink’s, the bank’s cash distributor, declined to comment, citing its policy of not commenting on law enforcement matters related to staff safety.
“I’ve never had a case like this before, ever,” said Detective Miller