Three teens found $50,000 in an envelope while walking — and took the most unexpected action
From a man spending cash from a parking lot on a winning lottery ticket to dollar bills being left by criminals to scam people, different stories begin with someone finding abandoned money. One of them is the tale of three young men in Weber County, Utah, who stumbled upon a modern-day treasure trove of envelopes brimming with cash. The trio didn't have to work hard to get their hands on the treasure that was lying in the middle of the road. However, the three knew right away that the money belonged to somebody else and set out on a journey to do the right thing.
The envelops in a box that the trio found were stuffed with a whopping $50,000 in cash. Speaking to KSL TV, Rhett who was one of the three boys said, "We didn’t know until I kicked one of them and money flew out." Following the astounding discovery, the young men decided to do the right thing. "The first reaction was like, well, let’s get this to the right person," the boy said, before admitting, "Then after we’re like, dang, could have done a lot with that."
The three boys then chose honesty and reported the lost money. The owner of the money had already reported that it was missing and was notified of its recovery. When the owner got his money back, his reaction was a mix of disbelief and gratitude towards the young men. He then planned to meet these boys personally to thank them before offering them a reward.
Speaking with KSL TV, Rhett's mother Lori Hickman said, "He has that personality. Sometimes you don’t quite know if he’s telling the truth." This is why when Rhett came to his mother and told her that a Weber County Sheriff’s Office deputy was coming over after he and his friends found a lot of money, his mother simply thought that it was just another prank. "I’m like, 'You did not,'" Lori Hickman said. "I just know Rhett’s personality and thought he was teasing me, and he said, ‘I did. I really did.'" However, when she realized that the boys were telling the truth, she simply couldn't help but be proud of her son and his friends. "That is a huge temptation, but I am really proud of all of them," Lori Hickman said.
Later speaking to the publication the boys said how their first instinct was to get the money to the rightful owner. "This would pay off a lot of loans I got," Rhett Hickman said. "But I was like, we better do the right thing and give it back, so." The owner later talked about how he lost the box in the first place after describing the box to the sheriff. He said that he had forgotten about the box on his truck trailer and got distracted by a phone call. Later the box slid off his truck trailer and he searched the area for nearly three hours before calling the sheriff's office.
