Imagine for a moment that you’re going about your very normal day, you’ve gone to the bank’s atm to pull some cash and you see a big clear bag full of money.
What would you do with it? Most people, myself included, would take that bag and probably get caught spending way too much money.
But Albuquerque teen, José Nuñez Romaniz, did the right thing and turned all that money in.
Romaniz called the number on the ATM and then the police, and made sure the money was returned to the right place. It turns out that the subcontractor that was supposed to fill the ATM accidentally forgot the bag of money and it behind in the open.
The bag contained over a hundred grand, around $135,000 in total.
That’s no laughing matter, and could have made a serious dent into some students loans (which is, admittedly, exactly where my brain went upon reading about this) but could have landed Romaniz into some serious trouble as well!
Finder’s keepers is not ratified by law, shockingly enough.
There’s also the possiblity of trouble outside of the law as well. I don’t know about where you grew up but big clear bags of money doesn’t exactly paint a clean image in my mind.
That could have been drug money or something, who knows? Yeah it would be pretty weird to be beside an ATM but drug lords do weird things!
AND this happened in Albuquerque! Breaking Bad anyone?
My point is that even if it seems totally safe and like no one would know you took it, there’s really no guarantee that you wouldn’t be unknowingly placing yourself into a dangerous situation, legally or otherwise.
Cameras are often placed all around banks and the government has crazy methods of figuring out who you are, so it’s really just never worth it. But of course the thought is extremely tempting…
In an interview after turning in the money, Romaniz explained his train of thought:
“In the back of my head, I was just thinking about my parents, especially my mom. What she would do if I came home with the money and… what she would do with her chancla [a flip-flop] to hit me.”
Don’t worry, he added that last part in with a good laugh!
Romaniz even got a few words with mayor Tim Keller and police chief Mike Geier!
“Man, we all know that temptation… Even just to take a little, just one of those bundles off the top! I mean that had to be really hard.” -Tim Keller
While a really nice sentiment, I’m sure the exact same thoughts were running through Romaniz’s mind, which could only have been difficult to hear all over again. You don’t need to remind me, Mr. Mayor!
“What a great opportunity for us to see some good in the community with all the tragedies we see with young people, this really restores our faith in the community as well.” -Mike Geier
An even better sentiment from the police chief. It was no doubt so great to see some good in the world and see a young citizen with such a strong moral compass in your own city!
It wasn’t all just for praise thankfully, Romaniz was rewarded for his selfless actions with $500, El Patron gave him an additional $500 cash and a gift card, while ESPN Radio gave the family season tickets for the University of New Mexico football!
Romaniz got to feel good about what he did and he got to see the instant karma of doing a good deed as well! Hopefully this will inspire people to do good deeds like this in the future as well!
Watch more in the video below.
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