Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 2, 1994 TAG: 9407040127
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER Note: below
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Bob Williams of Bedford, a salesman at Haley Toyota on Franklin Road, had just left work on June 24 when he saw the bag fall from atop a van on the Roy L. Webber Expressway. He stopped his car and dodged traffic to pick it up. There was no identification in it, so he turned the bag in to the Roanoke police the next day.
Andy D. Santos claimed the money and coins from the police Tuesday, after identifying the coins.
"It's a miracle," said Santos. "He didn't have to turn it in. And maybe the next guy wouldn't have. I'm just glad it was him."
Santos, a foreman at Vinton Scrap Iron and Metal, had taken the coins out of his safe deposit box to show to his brother. He was leaving his home on Beechwood Drive on June 24 when a neighbor stopped to talk. He put the pack on top of his van while he talked and forgot it.
"I was sick for three days worrying about it," he said.
Friends called him all day Tuesday to tell him about reports in the newspaper and on the radio of Williams' find. At first he figured the money wasn't his, because the reports said it was in a purse and didn't mention the coins. Once he figured it out, he went to the police.
Santos thanked him and gave him a reward, Williams said.
by CNB