Finders keepers?

OutlawPete

Guy in New Jersey finds are bag stuffed with cash and jewellery:

Take the money and run? Not this guy: He returned $23,000 in lost cash and jewels --

A Maine housewife hunting for hidden treasure at Ramapo State Forest lost a true treasure trove of her own — but found a good Samaritan from Ringwood.

Joe Monto of Ringwood found a backpack filled with cash and jewels in Ramapo State Forest and tracked down its owner.

Exhausted from a Halloween day hike as part of a game called "geocaching," Rebecca Knox drove away and left behind a backpack containing $5,000, which was her parents’ down payment for their new home, and about $18,000 in jewelry including family heirlooms.

Enter Joseph Monto of Ringwood, who spotted the backpack as he drove by the roadside parking lot, and — after discerning there was nothing sinister about it — set his mind on tracking down its owner.

"In my mind, it was the right thing to do," said Monto, 33, a substation mechanic for PSE&G, who nevertheless ended up rewarded by a grateful Knox with some of the treasure.

Monto first was struck by the weirdness of the situation: He thought the backpack, left in the parking area along Skyline Drive in Oakland near the Ringwood border, would hold typical hiking items, maybe even a wallet — but he didn’t expect loads of cash and jewelry and notebooks filled with geographic coordinates and what looked like codes. He wondered if the bag was linked to a jewelry heist or terrorism.

Then he found medical records for Knox’s parents and emergency contacts, including Knox’s brother.

Through her brother, he eventually got in touch with Knox, who explained she was visiting from out of town, helping her parents move into a retirement community in North Jersey. The cash was a down payment on their home, and the jewelry pouch was an item she carried in her travels. It included her great-aunt’s platinum watch, gifts from her husband over the years and a four-strand string of apricot-colored pearls that she had picked by hand.

And then she explained the coordinates and codes: Knox had been "geocaching," a hobby where people use Global Positioning System technology and coordinates to hide and find containers with surprise "treasures." That day, she’d followed two treasure paths in the park, which straddles the border of Bergen and Passaic counties, but found just one item: a water bottle.

Knox had misplaced the backpack around dusk, when she took it out of her car to look for her cellphone. A few hours later she was back at the same spot with Monto, thanking him for his honesty.

"It made me realize humanity still has a lot of goodness," Knox said Thursday.

She gave Monto a $1,000 reward, which he plans to use to convert his attic into a bedroom for a new baby, his second child, due in February.

"I did say to him," Knox added, "if at any time he wants a character reference, look for me."

Source

If you found a bag stuffed with almost €20,000's worth of cash and jewellery in it, what would you do?

I think I'd hand it in if it looked like it was legit money and that there was a chance it was someone's savings, withdrawn to buy a car for cash or something - but if it had a bag of cocaine or something with it that suggested it belonged to a thief - money would be all mine.

Princess Peach

Losers weepers

jubella

Why on earth did she bring all that with her to go hiking

squod

Donate it to the poor aul bankers.

DOC09UNAM

What a fúcking idiot.

Donate it to charity, if a rich person is not capable of looking after his money, fúck him.

alwaysadub

I'm not sure i'd go to so much trouble to track the person down, but i'd definitely hand it into the Guards.

Jaxxy

Anyone else have The Dubliners stuck in their head now?

bonerm

He wondered if the bag was linked to a jewelry heist or terrorism

Sometimes I actually feel sorry for the simple people of that country.

scientific1982

There only a few types of people who walk around with a bag containing 20 grand. Id hand it in as I like things like kneecaps.

Senna

She brought $5000 in cash and $18000 in jewels to a forest park, she deserved to lose it.

Mackman

OutlawPete wrote: »

I think I'd hand it in if it looked like it was legit money and that there was a chance it was someone's savings, withdrawn to buy a car for cash or something - but if it had a bag of cocaine or something with it that suggested it belonged to a thief - money would be all mine.

+1, or if it was from a bank or something.

Coke and hookers time :cool:

Queen-Mise

I would keep the cash and the leave the jewelery somewhere safe(ish) it would be found.

Two winners really...

Rothmans

OutlawPete wrote: »

if it had a bag of cocaine or something with it that suggested it belonged to a thief - money would be all mine.

Christ man, haven't you seen No Country for Old Men?

PanchoVilla

Exhausted from a Halloween day hike as part of a game called "geocaching," Rebecca Knox drove away and left behind a backpack containing $5,000, which was her parents’ down payment for their new home, and about $18,000 in jewelry including family heirlooms.

That just sounds dodgy as fúck. Who the hell carries around thousands of dollars worth of jewelery while they're playing a game of "geocaching"? What if it was supposed to be for a ransom demand and she left it for the kidnappers but this dumbass picked it up instead and now the baby is dead.

--LOS--

I'd probably keep anything I found up to €50, more than that just has the potential to be worth a lot to someone else.

Saila

OutlawPete wrote: »

but if it had a bag of cocaine or something with it that suggested it belonged to a thief - money would be all mine.

did you not see that movie that was on channel 4 the other week

sbsquarepants

Nobody goes running around a f'ucking forrest with 20 odd grand in a backpack for legit reasons!!
That money would be living with me now:rolleyes:

jimthemental

I would not only take the money but if I could identify her whereabouts I'd rob her car too just to teach her a lesson. This is one of the stupidest things I've seen in ages.

Seriously though I don't actually think she deserved to get it back, she was that slight bit too thick.

stovelid

I'd keep it but I wouldn't broadcast it: :pac:

http://www.poptheology.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/paulie_walnuts.jpg

Leelaa22

something does not seem right about her story. Firstly no one would go hiking with a bag full of money! Thats just so stupid.

And no one could leave it behind by accident. Its 20K , who forgets about 20K, and them co-ordinates??

Fishy..... very fishy.

FatherLen

this all has a twinge of "dumb and dumber" to me so it does

If it was legit, of course I would want to hand it in.
If it was not legit, I would not like a bunch of drug dealers or angry people with guns tracking me down and banging down my door. And they might.

Either way, not a chance in hell I'm keeping it. I'd be wary of even bringing it anywhere with me even to a local garda.

PeterIanStaker

If I hadnt seen No Country for Old Men, I'd keep it:eek:

Orando Broom

Without sounding like a goody **** shoes, any paper money I find I give to the poor box in Clarendon st. Church.

maxwell smart

Her story sounds dodgy.....

I did find €850 once in a carpark. It found a good home, in my pocket.

Fighting Irish

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

What a fúcking idiot.

Donate it to charity, if a rich person is not capable of looking after his money, fúck him.

lol no thanks

Diapason

As has been suggested, I'd be keeping my f*cking eyes peeled for Javier Bardem.

LizT

Hand it in! If it's not claimed after a certain period of time you get to keep it! I couldn't live with myself if I just took it and I'd feel supremely guilty about buying anything with the money!

Diabhal Beag

Hand it in out of fear of getting caught

Pookah

I'd keep it.

I'd rationalise it by telling myself the karmic Gods were smiling upon me, and this was my reward for some munificent deed I'd perfomed.

I'd spend the cash, though not in one place, and be careful to hock the jewellery slowly over time, so as not to offend the karmic Gods by being too greedy, all the while marvelling at how my good deeds were being rewarded.

candy-gal1

Keep it! if theres nobody nearby who you can see is looking for it.

FortuneChip

I'd bring it to the Garda, have them confirm whether or not it is "legit", and if it's not, I'd keep it...

Dravokivich

Double or nothing!