Off-Duty Officer Finds $120,000 in the Middle of California Roadway and Turns It in; Police Say It Was a Man's Life Savings
For some people, finding any kind of money with no one staking a claim on it would be a personal gain. One veteran California Highway Patrol sergeant, however, found $120,000 in cash lying in a roadway in Concord last month and turned over every dollar to local law enforcement who returned the money to a man who said it was his life savings.
"It was the right thing to do. I'm paid to uphold the law, and it's my job to set the example whether I'm working or not. I'm happy to hear the rightful owner was identified and that the money has been returned," said the female officer, a 20-year veteran law enforcement official, according to a statement highlighted by the San Francisco Chronicle.
That report said the sergeant discovered the cash during a trip in her personal vehicle along Concord Boulevard. She was forced to swerve around two bags which on investigation she realized were two bank deposit bags.
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"I thought what in the world, this can't be happening," the sergeant told Mercury News.
"There was two bank bags that said Bank of America and I thought, 'I wonder if this was some kind of bank robbery.' I opened it up just enough to see that there were stacks of $100 bills," she explained.
The sergeant said some of her friends have chided her for returning the money, but a colleague who describe her as "very humble," told The Christian Post Thursday that she's now on vacation from her job with the California Highway Patrol in Contra Costa, and said she wouldn't have had it any other way.
"She is such a humble person. She is very low-key, doesn't really want the limelight," said CHP officer John Fransen, who noted that she is one of his supervisors.
"I don't know what exactly her religious beliefs are. I know that she's definitely a good person, she is definitely someone who thinks about others before herself," he noted.
"When you are a law enforcement officer, I think usually if you already have that personality it increases … the more you are able to put yourself in other people shoes. That's what she did in this case. I think she looked at the money and yeah, it's a lot of money, but she thought to herself that somebody is probably missing that money. And it's a lot of money to be missing," continued Fransen.
He said from what he was told, his supervisor contacted the Concord Police Department to let them know that she found the money and dropped it off soon after the discovery.
"Through Concord Police Department's investigation, they were able to locate the rightful owner who indicated to them that it was his life savings and he was extremely grateful to have it back," said Fransen.
He said he did not know who the individual was who lost the money and his supervisor is yet to meet the person.
The Concord Police Department, which received the money, assured CP that the money was returned to its rightful owner and refused to reveal any further details on the investigation.
