Thursday, December 3, 2009

The $23,000 question

Who hasn’t dreamed of finding a bag of cash on the side of the road?

Someone out there recently had their dream come true. Unfortunately, it proved a nightmare for someone else.

I continue to be fascinated by the story of Former Marine Capt. Robert Powers. We’ve done a couple of stories detailing the saga of the Chester Heights man.

He’s the short version. Powers was planning a trip to buy a bunch of tickets to the upcoming Army-Navy game and deliver some gifts to friends at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He had $23,000 in cash that he placed in one of those purple felt bags that Crown Royal whiskey comes in. He then put the bag in a FedEx mailer. While he was carefully putting some of the gifts in his van, he put the envelope with the cash on the roof of the car. And of course he promptly drove off. When he realized he did not have the cash, he immediately called back home. His son retraced the route. Found the Fed Ex mailer. Eventually even the Crown Royal bag turned up, but not the case.

Clearly someone found the bag.

Here’s the question: What do you do then?

The funny thing is, if it was a $20 bill, or even a $100 bill along the side of the road, I probably would stick it in my pocket and whistle all the way home.

But this is different. This is $23,000 in cash. You know that someone had put it in this bag, and that it would be missed.

So far no one is coming forward with any information. I’m not surprised.

Disappointed maybe, but not surprised.

What Powers did wasn’t especially wise. But what someone who found that bag did was just plain wrong.

Of course, it’s not too late to change that. State police say anyone with information on the incident, which likely occurred somewhere around the intersection of Valleybrook and Concord roads, can call Trooper Matthew Gibson at 484-840-1000.

You’d be giving Robert Powers the best Christmas present of his life.

And you’d be giving yourself something as well. A clean conscience.

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