MADISON (WKOW) - Madison Police said a Baraboo man claimed $10,000 this week that had been stuffed inside a fanny pack and found in an east side neighborhood last month.
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Madison Police Spokesperson Lorie Anderson said detectives went to significant lengths to ensure the lost money was returned to the right person.
"We're talking about a substantial amount of money," Anderson said. "We wanted to make sure we're giving this back to the right person."
Anderson said the fanny pack also had a cell phone and ID inside. She said the ID belonged to the Baraboo man. Anderson said the man was also able to describe the unique fanny pack before seeing it.
Anderson said there was a bank slip inside the fanny pack involving the money, and the account on the slip matched the man's account. Authorities said the man had an explanation for how he lost this large sum of cash.
"They were bicycling with a backpack and a fanny pack and at some point after bicycling around, realized that the fanny pack had fallen off," Anderson said. "The owner did try to retrace their steps, did try to locate item but was not successful."
Anderson said the man offered a simple reason for never reporting the lost money to police.
"They just thought, 'Who would turn this in?'" Anderson said.
Police say the woman who found the fanny pack near the intersection of Winnebago Street and Bashford Avenue and turned it in was just doing a good deed. "There was no interest in accolades," Anderson says.
There was also no interest in a windfall. "The owner offered the police department, 'Can I give her some reward?' And she was definitely not interested in that as well," Anderson said.
A Madison statute does require any found money of $100 or more to be turned in to the appropriate authorities.
Anderson sees the woman's surrender of the $10,000 she found as a demonstration of her character. "We have really good people in this city who want nothing more than the person to be reunited with the money."
"We're happy it all worked out and we were able to finally locate the owner."
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