I found $98k hidden inside a desk I bought on Craigslist – when I learned the truth behind it I knew I couldn’t keep it

A CRAIGSLIST shopper shared that he had discovered nearly $100,000 in cash from a desk he purchased on the site.

Rabbi Noah Muroff explained why he was unable to keep the money and what he ended up doing with it.

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Muroff, from Connecticut, said he found $98,000 stuffed in a plastic bag behind the desk’s drawers, according to CNN News.

The rabbi explained that he had purchased the piece of furniture for $150 in September.

Muroff, a high school teacher in New Haven, Connecticut, said he went to pick up the seemingly ordinary desk on September 2.

The seller was a woman named Patty who lived just outside his city.

Muroff said he did not realize the desk hid a huge discovery until he got home and took it apart to get it through his door.

He explained that the discovery was only made by the slightest of margins.

“The desk did not fit… by just a fraction of an inch,” Muroff said.

“Without detaching the desk, this money, which was behind the drawers, was totally inaccessible,” he added.

He shared how he and his wife Esther reacted to the shock find.

“We were looking at each other and laughing,” he recalled.

“This kind of thing only happens in the movies.”

Muroff said he knew the money belonged to Patty as she told him she bought and built the desk from Staples.

He said that once he realized what had happened he knew he could not keep the money.

The rabbi explained that he called Patty within 20 minutes of the discovery to reunite the seller with her cash.

Rules on finding money

The saying “finders, keepers

While state and local laws may differ slightly, the majority will require you to attempt to find the owner of the money.

If you fail to make reasonable efforts to track down the owner, many states can charge you with theft or larceny of lost property.

The penalty will most likely be based on the value of the lost property as larger finds that are kept without making reasonable efforts to find the owner may be classed as a felony rather than a misdemeanor.

The term reasonable efforts includes asking people nearby if they dropped any cash, checking the envelope or wallet (if there is one) for an ID, handing it into a nearby store, or contacting the police on a non-emergency line.

Some laws will authorize the police to return the money to the finder if no one has claimed it after a period of time.

Always check your local and state laws which will most likely outline what to do if you find property or cash.

It is also advised that you contact the police or a criminal defense lawyer who can assist in what the laws state and how you should proceed.

Source: Criminal Defense Lawyer

He said she was “speechless” and explained how the inheritance money ended up in the desk.

The rabbi said she told him the cash was inheritance money she had forgotten about after some time.

She was reunited with the money the next day.

Patty wrote a thank you note to the rabbi for his thoughtful actions.

“I do not think there are too many people in this world that would have done what you did by calling me,” she wrote, according to CNN News.

LUCKY FINDS

The U.S. Sun has previously reported on other people who have unexpectedly uncovered huge sums of cash.

Jose Nuñez Romaniz said he found a bag with a whopping $135,000 next to a Wells Fargo ATM in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Romaniz said he could have kept those stacks of bills for himself but handed them to police instead.