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Salvation Army worker Joe Cornell, who returned a bag full of about $125,000 that fell out of Brinks truck, received a $5,000 reward from Brinks. (AP Photo/The Fresno Bee, George Hostetter)
FRESNO, Calif. » A Salvation Army worker in California is being rewarded for his decision to return a bag containing $125,000 that fell from an armored truck.
Joe Cornell tells The Fresno Bee that he found the cash Tuesday after a Brinks truck pulled away from a red light in Fresno and left the sack behind.
"I started crying and shaking," Cornell said. "Everything was going through my mind — the good devil/bad devil thing. What to do?"
Thoughts of the imminent arrival of his fourth grandchild soon helped him decide.
"I thought, ‘What would I want her to think of me?’ That made up my mind right there," he said. "I got on my radio and called my boss. ‘Hey, I found a bag of money.’ "
Cornell, 52, is in a Salvation Army substance-abuse rehabilitation program. His duties for the organization include working on donated trailers.
"I went down there carrying the bag like I was Santa Claus," Cornell said.
Brinks spokesman Ed Cunningham said he isn’t sure how the truck lost the money, and he called the incident a security issue.
The company will give Cornell a $5,000 reward and make a separate $5,000 donation to the Salvation Army.
