The Good Samaritan

Here is an article from Huffington Post:

A man in northern Illinois found a valuable surprise in his backyard Tuesday afternoon: A duffle bag filled with stacks of $20 bills.

As Wayne Sabaj, a 49-year-old unemployed carpenter living in Johnsburg, explained to WGN, he had been looking for broccoli in his garden when he saw the duffle bag. After Sabaj showed the bag to his father, with whom he lives, they decided to alert police.

When the McHenry Sheriff's Department arrived, they discovered a second bag. All told, the bags contained $150,000.

Sabaj told the Northwest Herald that he briefly considered keeping the money for himself, but he feared not only where the money had come from, but who might be coming back to retrieve it.

"I went and spent my last $10 on cigarettes yesterday, but I turned in $150,000," Sabaj said.

"I haven't worked in two years. Yeah, I was like, I could really use this money," the man told ABC7. "With my luck, it would be bank robbery and I'd get caught and say I'd robbed a bank."

The bags are now in the custody of police, who are processing them for fingerprints and any other evidence, according to the Northwest Herald. There are currently no suspects. In the bags' place, investigators left a business card listing a phone number and a "please call" note. If an owner is not identified, police indicated they may assist Sabaj in determining whether he can claim the money.

What would you have done? I will be totally honest and say that I would never ever had contacted the police, I would have kept the money for a while waiting for the owners to look for it. Anyway, I think that this man deserves as least part of that money for being such a good citizen.

I surely would have handed it in.  In England if you find bags of cash and they are not claimed within a certain amount of time, they rightfully and legally become yours! 

I think they deserve part if not all of it - sounds like they could do with it too.

blue

Well that's gives broccoli a new meaning. I honestly would've found it very difficult to turn it in. The deciding factor would be the same fears that this guy had, who's coming back for it, stolen money, maybe marked bills etc. It would kill me to turn in that amount of cash.

In Romania you can go to jail if you don't hand in found goods. There was a case recently: a woman found around 40,000 euro in a pair of shoes she picked up from a street thrash can, she didn't turn the money in, the cops found out and now she is being prosecuted for that!

That's a bit crazy!  How did they find out about it and what are they charging her with? 

blue

They are charging her with something like "taking possession of found goods", that's against the law. The thing is the woman was rather poor and since she lives in a small town everybody started wondering where she got enough money to buy a house. That was her mistake, she bought a house... The investigation started, the police found out who lost that money and then found out who took it. As I said, she can go to jail for this but maybe the judges will be a bit lenient with her.

Great story Johnny and its right in my state. Why couldn't that be my backyard!

Oh boy i am not sure what i would do. I def would want to keep it and have no qualms about it but i would have to check into the repercussions of not turning it in and the laws of the state first.

My fear would be it could be stolen money and marked. US bills are marked with the year they were made so if it was really old cash i think i may be safe and take it.

But would i truly have a clear conscious i don't know to be honest. Maybe it was some old timer that saved that money and it would rightfully go to his children someday.

Very tough call the more i think about it.

Lips

Sad to say, I know exactly what I would do with it... I would turn it in every time! But that is why it is sad... my conscience (the angel on my shoulder) would not allow me to do otherwise, but the little devil on my other shoulder would be climbing down to kick my butt!  >:D

I must be the bad guy here, cuz if a bag of cash wound up in my backyard, I'd have some sweet new furniture and a loaded card to play

well, just like the saying-
"What goes around, comes around"
I think they did the right thing by turning in the money.
personally, i would have too much guilt on my mind from keeping it
discreetly.
By them turning in the money, shows others that they are good people and
did the honest thing.
something good will return to them, if not the money they turned in,
something else.
maybe not as good, or maybe even better.

I don't know.  I think I would keep it but I did find $100 on the floor in Reno and gave it to the nearest person sitting at a bar.  Figured it MUST have been theirs.  I walked away kicking myself. 

Funny the guy is flat broke, unemployed and living with his father but took his last 10 bucks to buy smokes.

If it's not claimed within a short time, 30 days, it should be his.  I wonder how long he lived at the home and if it was buried. 

Out in Oregon (Years ago) some boys found $1500...They turned it into the cops and after 90 days placed a claim on it. at first the cops refused to cough it up, but their Dad was a lawyer sooooo...I think that after 6 months they should be allowed to claim it..as it is quite a bit.

Am I the only one here wondering who in the world would throw away two bags with $150,000 into someone else's backyard? Santa?

If I found the money like that, I'd have the same fears as the poor man. Hence - the money would go to the police. No strings attached.