ICYMI: Homeless Man's $10K Returned by Deputy, Good Samaritan

A homeless man who accidentally left two envelopes of cash at a Lauderdale-by-the-Sea bus stop has been reunited with his money courtesy of a Good Samaritan and a quick-thinking Broward County deputy.

The homeless man, only identified as Joe, inherited $12,000 from a relative, the Sun-Sentinel explained. It seems he withdrew most of that money from the bank on June 1 to go shopping. While he did make it to a local mall, he managed to leave behind two bags of recently purchased goodies and two bank envelopes stuffed with cash on a bus bench, the paper reported.

In the wee hours of June 4, volunteer beach patrol member John Harbett found an envelope with almost $4,000 in it near the bus stop, ABC reported. Not too long after, Deputy Ben Koos happened to find the two bags of goodies and another envelop with $5,600 inside, the network reported.

When Harbett stopped by the sheriff’s office to turn in the cash he found, the pieces of the puzzle began coming together.

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It seems Broward detectives found a store receipt inside one of the bags and pulled surveillance to identify Joe as the owner of the merchandise and cash.

Joe, who authorities describe as “intermittently homeless,” was found and reunited with his cash and purchases.

The money was put back into the bank and it’s been reported that Joe plans to use it to move out of state to be closer to friends and family.

“It kind of renews your faith,” Mansell was quoted by the Sun-Sentinel as saying.

The sheriff’s office seems pleased with the happy ending, as well.

“An alert deputy and a good Samaritan helped return thousands of dollars to a homeless man,” the agency reported on its Facebook page. “Great work!”

Broward’s deputies aren’t the only ones hard at work helping the homeless back on their feet. In April, a homeless man in Tampa was reunited with his long-lost bank account courtesy of local police Officer Dan McDonald and a diligent caseworker. The money recovered was hoped to be enough to ensure that John Helinski could establish a home for himself.

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