NEWS RELEASE

RIVERSIDE POLICE DEPARTMENT

31 Riverside Road
Riverside, Illinois 60546

March 5, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Chief Tom Weitzel

708 447 2127 tweitzel@riverside.il.us

Riverside Police Reunite Large Sum of Cash with Owner

North Riverside resident turns in large sum of cash to police found on street

On Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 7:00 p.m., a North Riverside resident came into the police
department's lobby and asked to speak to a police officer about a large sum of cash and checks he
found on the street.
The Good Samaritan, a 54-year-old male resident of North Riverside, told the responding officer that he
was driving home from an errand when his vehicle headlights illuminated what appeared to be a wad of
cash in the street on Delaplaine ice skating rink. The gentleman got out of his car and confirmed that
there was a large sum of cash and checks laying in the roadway. He actually discovered the money at
6:55 p.m. and then drove directly to the Riverside Police Department to turn it in.
Over the next hour, the officer counted the cash which came out to $11,155.00 and $205,740.00 in
checks. There was a tape receipt that was run indicating that there was actually $12,155.00 in cash
that should have been in the bundle. The Riverside Police officer went back to the scene on Delaplaine
Road and found an additional $1,000.00 still at the curb line adjacent to the ice rink. The $1,000.00
cash was wrapped in a rubber band and equaled exactly $1,000.00 making the total $12,155.00 in
cash.
Over the next several days, the Riverside Police Department's detective was able to trace the owner of
the cash and checks through various investigative methods. On Tuesday, February 3, 2015, the owner
of the cash, a 61-year-old male resident of Riverside, came into the police department to identify the
proceeds and provide paperwork to back up the fact that it was his cash. Several of the checks that
were recovered were actually made out to the victim that lost the money. To verify that the police count
was correct, the victim brought all the cash and checks to a local bank in Riverside and had them verify
the police findings.

The gentleman who lost the cash was very thankful that an honest citizen would turn the money into
the police and was also astonished that the Riverside police officer would return to the scene, find the
additional $1,000.00 cash on the roadway, bring it back into the police station, and include it in the
overall recovered property.
Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel stated, This is just an all-around good story of an extremely
honest local resident of North Riverside who immediately turned in a large amount of cash and checks
to Riverside police so we could attempt to reunite the cash and checks with the owner. The owner of
the cash and money was extremely happy to have his property returned and asked the police
department for the information on the subject that recovered the money. That information was turned
over to the victim so that the two individuals could speak with one another and the owner of the
property could thank the individual for his honesty. Chief Weitzel went on to say, With all the
negativity we deal with in law enforcement, this was just a really good situation that made all the
officers that were involved in the initial case and the detective who followed up on it extremely happy
that they were able to give the property back to the owner. Each Riverside officer thanked the North
Riverside resident for his honesty and praised him for his immediate turning in of the cash to the
police.
Riverside Police are not releasing the name or address of the victim/Good Samaritan as at this time
they did not want to be identified.

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