If you found $300,000 (N50 million) in your backseat, would you return it? One cabbie in Las Vegas says definitely. He seems to have no regrets regarding his decision to return the $300,000 in cash he found in a brown paper bag in the back seat of his cab this week.
He went out of his way to make sure the money was returned to its rightful owner. ”I don’t care from $10 to higher. My dignity is not for sale, and that’s the way I am. That’s the way our parents taught us when I was a kid,” said cabbie Gerardo Gamboa to CNN affiliate KVVU. ”All I wanted to do was just call my dispatcher and return it, and this is the only chance I have to show cab drivers in Las Vegas are not bad people.”
The money actually belonged to a famous 28-year-old professional poker player, who was so distraught about the loss that “he wanted to shoot himself in the head,” according to a cab company official’s statement.
Yellow Checker Star field operations manager Joel Willden told KVVU, ”He was grateful. He was very understanding; he wasn’t irritated. To a point he was irritated, but he wasn’t mad or aggressive or anything. Maybe a little more embarrassed than anything. I mean, he left $300,000 in a cab, but he was an awesome guy.”
According to the chief operating officer of the cab company, the sum of money was the largest that had ever been found inside of his 32-year-long career.
“We had to be as a company extremely cautious that the right person got the money,” cab firm CEO Bill Shranko said. ”It’s the Christmas season and we think it’s the best story that I’ve seen in 32 years, and cab drivers worldwide are going to be very proud.”
Gamboa was driving a man about two miles between casino-hotels, from the Cosmopolitan on the Las Vegas Strip to Palms Place, as reported by KLAS, another CNN affiliate. He was given a $5 tip from the man.
Gamboa returned to the Strip — the Bellagio casino-hotel. ”When the doorman at the Bellagio opened up the door for the next passenger, he said, ‘There’s a bag in here. It’s full of chocolate,’” Gamboa told KLAS.
Needless to say, Gamboa was stunned to see six bundles of $100 bills inside. By that time the next fare was already in the cab. Gamboa told the passenger, “Look sir, you are my witness. I didn’t touch anything here.”
According to KLAS, Gamboa gave the bag to his Nevada cab company. They contacted the police, who after several hours of investigation were able to confirm the rightful owner of the money.
Gamboa did not walk away completely empty-handed as Yellow Check Star rewarded him $1,000 for his integrity, made him driver of the year, and also gave him a steak dinner for two.
“They call us sin city. But it’s not. It’s angel city,” a humble Gamboa told KLAS. ”I did the right thing, that’s it.”