Man Finds $140,000, Turns It In To Cops Brinks Gives Struggling Landscaper $2,000 Reward, His Mom Says It Should Have Been 10% Comments 71 LONG BEACH, Calif., April 10, 2008 <script type="text/javascript"> function setFontSize(o, n){ setCookie('cbsFontSize', n); changeFontSize; return false; } function getFontSize(){ var font = parseInt(getCookieValue('cbsFontSize')); if(!font || typeof(font) != 'number'){ changeFontSelector(12) return; } changeFontSize(font); } function changeFontSize{ $("#centerColumnContent").css('font-size', n+'px'); // Make current font diff color changeFontSelector; } function changeFontSelector{ $('.textSizeSelector a').each(function(){ $(this).removeClass('fssActive'); if($(this).hasClass( 'fss'+n+'px' )){ $(this).addClass('fssActive'); } }); } function storyEmail(){ var headline = $('h1').html(); var href = '/htdocs/send_article/mostpopular.html?story_headline=' + headline + '$@$;story_url=' + document.location.href; new cbsPopup('most_popular_email').open(href); return false; } $(document).ready(function(){ // Adjust font if needed. 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Photo courtesy of Long Beach Police Department. (Long Beach Police Department ) <script type="text/javascript"> videoSetActiveVideo('videoPlayer', '4005621'); var embeddedVideos = { 'v4005621': {videoId: '4005621', flashId: 'jKzWSUFI6oaON6fGLEo9QL4AmRU2ZVy9', videoImage: 'http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/CBS_Production_News/676/670/noco_money_0410_244x183.jpg', cropClass: '', videoContainerId: 'videoPlayer', videoObjectContainer: 'videoObject', 'title': 'Calif. Man Turns In $140Gs', 'description': 'A landscaper with lots of debt found bundles of $20 bills on the street in Cerritos, Calif. He turned them into police and was rewarded by Brinks, the company who left them. Glen Walker reports.*|*Share/Embed ' } }; </script> Calif. Man Turns In $140Gs A landscaper with lots of debt found bundles of $20 bills on the street in Cerritos, Calif. He turned them into police and was rewarded by Brinks, the company who left them. Glen Walker reports. | Share/Embed <center>» More Videos </center> Related <noindex></noindex>Stories 'Chili Finger' $100K Reward Shared <!-- Start Answers.com support section --><!-- OLD <style id='hideit' type="text/css">.hideit {display:none}</style> <SCRIPT type="text/javascript" src="http://site.answers.com/main/js/webtip.js"></SCRIPT> <script type="text/javascript"> if (!ANSW.Trigger) ANSW.Trigger= new Object();ANSW.Trigger.trigger = "dblclick";ANSW.Trigger.triggerModKey=" ";</script> <SCRIPT type="text/javascript" src="http://site.answers.com/main/js/answers_embed1.js"></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT type="text/javascript">ANSW.cobrand="cbs"; if (ANSW.Trigger.altClickSupported()) { if (document.getElementById('hideit'))document.getElementById('hideit').disabled=true; }</SCRIPT> --><script type="text/javascript" src="http://site.answers.com/main/js/web_answertip.js?ANSW.cobrand=%27cbs%27"></script><script type="text/javascript">if (ANSW.Trigger.altClickSupported()) { if (document.getElementById('hideit'))document.getElementById('hideit').disabled=true; }</script> <!-- End Answers.com support section --> (CBS/AP) <!-- sphereit start -->It was a tempting sight for struggling landscaper Eli Estrada: a bag filled with $140,000 on a Cerritos street. There was his credit card debt, upcoming wedding and making ends meet with his artificial grass and landscaping business. But turning it over to Long Beach police last month was the right thing to do, he said. The 40-year-old Estrada admits that some days "I think I was nuts," but he adds, "I know in my gut that to keep that money would be wrong." The Bank of America money bag was lost March 11 by Brinks Armored truck drivers. The unmarked $20 bills were bundled into wads of $20,000 and bound for ATMs. Long Beach police Sgt. Dina Zapalski said Estrada handed over the money bag to an officer who took a report at one of the landscaper's job sites. Zapalski said she had never heard of someone turning in so much cash. "I've had people come to me with purses and wallets with cash in it and they'll turn it in," Zapalski told the Los Angeles Times. "But not like this." Brinks later gave him a $2,000 reward. "They should have given him 10 percent," Estrada's mother told the Times.
Same here, but what I would like to know is how the money was "Lost" to begin with. Money just does not fall out of those armored trucks.
How do we know he only found $140K? Maybe he found two bags but wanted to find out if they were marked so he turned one in. Brinks doesn't announce it publicly but they report $280K to the insurance company.
You all are a bunch of larcenous old pessimists. Here is a guy that did something honest and everybody starts looking for the turd in the punch-bowl.
While I respect him and applaud him for his absolute honesty, I have to admit I would not have done the same. I have never even considered keeping an individual's wallet or watch or any money I've seen them drop, but a bank is another matter entirely. Their money is our money, and is insured by our taxes, they are bailed out if they get too far into debt, also by our taxes, I would keep that money and never feel bad about it.