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When This Recovering Drug Addict Found a Bag Full of Cash, He Did the Right Thing

When This Recovering Drug Addict Found a Bag Full of Cash, He Did the Right Thing

"I went down there carrying the bag like I was Santa Claus." Read more here: https://www.fresnobee.com/2014/05/29/3950869/man-returns-brinks-bag-full-of.html?sp=/99/217/&ihp=1#storylink=cpy

Joe Cornell has had a tough go of things -- he's currently 52 and working his way through a Salvation Army substance abuse recovery program -- but he got lucky Tuesday when he found a bag on the curb stuffed with cash.

$125,000, to be precise.

Cornell said he saw a Brinks armored truck stop at a red light, then rumble across railroad tracks, and once the truck had pulled away Cornell realized a bag had been left behind.

He wasn't sure how it had fallen out of the truck, but he went to investigate and found the cash.

"I started crying and shaking," Cornell told the Fresno Bee. "Everything was going through my mind -- the good devil/bad devil thing. What to do?"

It was the thought of his grandchildren that guided his decision.

"I have a grandbaby due any time, my fourth," the California man said. "I thought, 'What would I want her to think of me?' That made up my mind right there. I got on my radio and called my boss. 'Hey, I found a bag of money.'"

Cornell brought the bag to a Salvation Army office on his boss' instructions -- "I went down there carrying the bag like I was Santa Claus," Cornell said -- where police and Brinks officials showed up to take the bag.

"Mr. Cornell did the right thing," Brinks spokesman Ed Cunningham told the Fresno Bee. "For that, we are grateful."

Brinks will give Cornell $5,000 as a reward for his good deed, Cunningham said, as well as donating $5,000 in Cornell's name to the local Salvation Army.

Cornell said he's glad he did the right thing, and that he's looking forward to staying clean as he finishes his substance abuse program.

Featured image via Shutterstock

Follow Zach Noble (@thezachnoble) on Twitter

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