A student went to buy socks for his grandfather and found 135 thousand dollars: he surprised us with his act
An American teenager had to make a difficult decision after he found $135,000.
This was reported by SSPDaily
Jose Nunez Romanis, a criminal justice student from New Mexico, was 19 years old when he tried to deposit money to buy socks for his grandfather back in 2020. However, he noticed a giant plastic bag filled with cash.
"When I first saw it, I stared at it for a few seconds, not knowing what to do," he said. "I was very shocked. I had never seen so much money."
Noticing a tag that said the bag contained $60,000 in $20 bills, Jose decided to call the police instead of running away with the money. Later, law enforcement officers found another $75,000 in $50 bills in the bag.
"I've seen a lot of things in 21 years, but this was unique and refreshing for the department and the city," said Officer Simon Drobik, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, at the time. "I think this is the largest amount of money found in Albuquerque and recovered."
Jose admitted that "it never occurred to him to take any of it for himself."
At first, the teenager thought about calling the number on the side of the ATM, but eventually decided to call the police. Jose put the bag of money in his car and drove up to the ATM so that no one else could use it.
According to the police department's representative, Gilbert Gallegos Jr, the contractor wanted to put the money in the ATM but mistakenly left it on the sidewalk.
A few days later, Jose was invited to meet with the mayor of Albuquerque and the police chief at a ceremony attended by more than 50 people. Officer Drobik found out that he was studying criminal justice and invited him to apply for a position with the department.
"I've wanted to be a police investigator or detective since I was a little kid," Jose said. "I've been thinking about it."
At the ceremony, Mayor Tim Keller said: "Boy, we all know that temptation. Even just to take a little bit, just one of those bundles from upstairs. I mean, it must have been very difficult."