Vegas Cab Driver Finds $200,000 and Returns It

By Christine Thomasos, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, October 10, 2012

It isn't often that cab drivers find over $200,000 in their car, but one Las Vegas cabbie did more than that -- he returned it.

Adam Woldemarim, a 42-year-old Ethiopian driver in Las Vegas found a laptop case full of $221,510 in cash last month while cleaning out the back seat of his car at the beginning of his shift. Instead of keeping the money or sharing it with his family members and friends, the cab driver decided to bring the lost treasure to the security personnel at his job, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The security officer at Frias Transportation Management took pictures of the cash as evidence before sending Woldemarim on his way. While the Ethiopian driver thought that would be the end of the story, he was called back to the office to find a male under 30 that claimed the earnings that he won at the Wynn Las Vegas resort.

The man realized that he misplaced the money on his way to the airport and immediately called the cab company who notified him of Woldemarim's good deed. After thanking the driver, he rewarded him with $2,000.

While Woldemarim was satisfied with his reward that would pay his $400 rent and provide some cash to his family members in Ethopia, some of his friends believe that he should have received more for his honesty.

"That's all? How about 10 percent, at least? That's $20,000," some of his friends exclaimed according to the Las Vegas Journal-Review. "How about 15 or 20 percent? That's the going rate for tips in Vegas, after all."

While the publication reports that he is grateful for his reward, the driver's friend Alex Alebachew, 50, told the Las Vegas publication that the good deed was proof that foreign cab drivers could be honest people.

"It would have been nice if my good friend got more money, but I think the most important thing here is that a lot of people think foreign cab drivers like us abuse tourists or they long haul their customers or we're just here causing problems and we don't belong here," he said.