Girl Finds $5,000, Returns to Owner

It would be very easy to keep a large sum of money if you found it lying around, particularly if no owner was readily apparent. Even easier if tracking down the owner would require a lot of hard work on your part.

But a student at Lakewood Preparatory School decided to do the right thing when she found $5,000 simply stuffed into the pocket of a jacket in a pile of stage props from Good Will.

India Williams decided to locate a teacher to help her find the owner to return the cash, according to a story in Black White Read - Lakewood Edition.

School officials finally located the owner of the jacket, Ishmael Silvas, only to discover he was deceased. However, he had a daughter living in the area, Robin, who was executor of her father’s estate.

Her father apparently had a penchant for keeping stashes of money in different locations.

Silvas went to meet the young woman and receive the money at Lakehill school. She also rewarded her good Samaritan with $50 and donated $500 to the Lakehill Fine Arts Department.

"Something like this reaffirms your belief in people and confirms my belief that people really do want to do the right thing," assistant headmaster Lara Gajkowski told Black White Read.

Holly LaFon has written and worked for various local publications including D Magazine and Examiner.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us