A TEENAGER caught more than he bargained for on a fishing trip with his family.
Connor Halsa, 14, from Minnesota, was on summer vacation enjoying one of his favorite hobbies when he reeled in a strange catch.
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“I thought I had a big fish, and I set the hood really hard,” he told ABC News affiliate KGO.
Halsa’s cousin netted the catch and the pair raised they had caught a wallet full of cash.
“My cousin Brandon opened the wallet up and he was like, he said some words that you probably shouldn’t say, and then he said there was some money in it, and he like showed everyone,” Halsa recalled.
“And then we took the money out and placed it all on the dashboard to let it dry off.”
The family added up the bills and discovered that their catch was worth $2,000.
Along with the money, the moss-covered wallet also contained a business card.
The good-hearted holidaymakers knew that they had to track down the rightful owner.
Iowa farmer Jim Denney was shocked to receive a phone call telling him that his wallet, and his money, had been found.
“I tell you what, if I didn’t if I got the billfold in my hands. It is still hard for me to believe,” Denney told the outlet.
The farmer had been fishing on the lake a year before the find and the rough water made the boat rock.
Denney was sitting on the back of the boat when the rocking caused his wallet to fall from his pocket into the water.
He failed to realize he had lost it until it came to paying the resort later on.
“They had to kind of float me the money for the whole deal…I didn’t have a penny on me,” Denney said.
The shocked fisherman believed his money was gone for good after it plunged into the 70-mile-long and 60-mile-wide lake.
“The odds of ever finding a billfold in there, a billfold in 20-foot water, I don’t think there would be a number,” he said.
RULES ON FINDING MONEY
The saying ‘finders keepers’ is not always true as people who find money and keep it may quickly find out.
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 will be able to 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
Denney then traveled to Minnesota to retrieve his wallet, and although he offered Halsa the cash as a reward, the teenager refused to accept it.
“We didn’t work hard for the money, he did, so it was his money,” Halsa said.
The wallet arrived at Denney’s farmhouse a month after the find and he later visited the family in Minnesota.
He bought Halsa a personalized cooler and took the family out for dinner as a thank-you.
“I would take Connor for a grandson any day and I would fight for him any day,” Denney said.
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