September 7, 2001 Posted: 12:29 PM EDT (1629 GMT)
SAVANNAH, Georgia (AP) -- Wanda Johnson, a mother of five, was
driving to pawn her television for $60 to pay her electric bill when
temptation fell from the back of an armored car.
She stopped in traffic to scoop up the plastic sack that had fallen into
the street.
Inside, she found $120,000 in cash.
"I'm like, 'Well, this must be the answer. I'm going to keep it,' " Johnson
said.
"Then I'm like, 'No, don't do that. It's not yours. It's not right.' "
Johnson, 34, struggled to make a decision during the rest of her Tuesday
shift
as a housekeeper at Memorial Hospital. Finally, four hours after stumbling
onto
easy money, she called police to return it.
"What she did took a lot of courage, a lot more courage than most people
have
in this world today," said Warren Smith, armored car supervisor for EM
Security of Savannah, which was transporting the money from a bank vault.
The cash bundle of $5, $10 and $20 bills was to be used to stock ATMs.
During the trip, a compartment door on the truck fell open. Johnson, driving
behind the truck on her lunch break, saw the money bag fly into the air.
While
other cars swerved to avoid it, she stopped to pick it up.
Johnson said she didn't open the bag immediately. But on the outside someone
had written in marker the words "deposit" and "$120,000."
Johnson returned to work and stashed the cash under the back seat of her
car.
After her shift, she peeked inside and saw a smaller plastic bag stuffed
with
stacks of $20 bills.
Johnson said she drove to her pastor's house, looking for encouragement
to do
the right thing. They talked and prayed, then reported the missing money.
Another armored car escorted by police and FBI agents arrived within 20
minutes to retrieve it.
"It's not like she waited four or five days until her conscience got the
best of
her," said police spokesman Bucky Burnsed. "What she did, she did
immediately. And I think that is phenomenal."
Johnson will receive a reward for her honesty, Smith said. He declined
to
specify the amount.
"We're going to make sure that she's well taken care of," he said.
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
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