Repairman searching for leak in air conditioner vent in vacant home finds $20,000 and returns it

There was so much cash, 62-year-old Jerry LaLiberte said

A Holmes Beach plumber returned $20,000 that he had found hidden in an air return duct at a vacant home. There was so much cash, 62-year-old
Jerry LaLiberte said he was actually frightened.

LaLiberte was trying to access a leaky shower when he pulled the grate off a the return vent on October 20. Two foil-wrapped packets of cash spilled out.

"I was scared. It scared me. My hands were shaking," said LaLiberte. "I wasn't sure what to do, to tell the truth."

The one thing LaLiberte said he never thought about doing was keeping the money. LaLiberte called his bosses at Air & Energy air-conditioning, plumbing and electrical service on Holmes Beach. They called the homeowner and police.

"The old homeowner was a widow who stashed money all over her house," said Stewart Moon of Air & Energy. "When she died she told her children where everything was. Apparently, she missed some places."

For that reason, Moon said police asked them not to reveal the location of the house. "The police are just afraid that people are going to go tear the house down looking for more cash," Moon said.

LaLiberte says he does not like being treated like a hero for returning the cash. "I think it's a shame that I should be a big hero for doing the right thing. That everybody should do."

A plumber in Florida who found $20,000 in a vacant home and turned the money over to police is being credited for his honesty. he had found two foil-wrapped packets of cash that were hidden in an air return duct at a vacant home.

There was so much cash, 62-year-old Jerry LaLiberte said he was actually frightened."I was scared. It scared me. My hands were shaking," LaLiberte told the news station. "I wasn't sure what to do, to tell the truth."

LaLiberte says the one thing that he never thought to do was to keep the money. So he called his bosses, who in turn called police and the homeowner.

"The old homeowner was a widow, had stashed money all over her house," says Stewart Moon of Air & Energy heating and air conditioning service, where LaLiberte has worked for the last 8 years.

"before she died she told her children where everything was. Apparently, she missed some places."

For that reason, police asked Moon not to disclose the location of the house for fear of vandals.

"I guess this hasn't been the first time they'd been left money like this in this house," Yankee says. "They just hadn't found this part of it."

As for LaLiberte, it's rather awkward to be lauded for turning the cash in, he says. "I think it's a shame that I should be a big hero for doing the right thing."

Read more: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_sarasota_manatee/repairman-searching-for-leak-in-air-conditioner-vent-in-vacant-home,-finds-cold-hard-cash,-$20,000#ixzz1dINrINar

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