Teen Praised After Turning In $135K Of Cash He Found By An ATM

Let’s face it, a find like this would solve a lot of problems for many of us. $135,000 in cash is life-changing money, we do not care how you slice it.

Life throws us a lot of decisions each day and it is up to us to make the right ones, though. This is something that this teen knows all too well. We cannot imagine what we would have done in their position.

Photo: YouTube/KRQE

What would you do if you pulled up to an ATM for a normal withdrawal, only to find a massive bag of cash sitting there? Many of us would grab it without a second though and make a break for it. The average teenager would be sure to do something like that. The teen that you are about to meet is far from your average kid, however.

José Nuñez Romaniz, who hails from New Mexico, decided that he would do what was right. He was not going to take money that did not belong to him, even if it was being made easy for him. According to KRQE, the 19-year-old college student went to the ATM because he needed some cash to buy socks for his grandfather.

Photo: YouTube/KRQE

He saw a clear bag full of cash sitting there and instead of snatching it for himself, he turned it into the authorities. For starters, he contacted the number that was on the ATM, and then he notified the police. The subcontractor who was responsible for filling the ATM with money had forgotten the bag.

We cannot begin to imagine the type of trouble they would have been in if someone else had come along. Imagine how much of an issue you would be in at work if $135,000 vanished because of your honest mistake.

Photo: YouTube/KRQE

“In the back of my head, I was just thinking about my parents, especially my mom. What she would do if I came home with the money and… what she would do with her chancla [a flip-flop] to hit me,” said Jose in the interview.

“I did the right thing and I know my parents are proud and my family is proud as well,” he continued. Mayor Tim Keller and Police Chief Mike Geier honored him for the decision, too.