Honesty pays. (The Goodness of America).(Brief Article)

Joe Csira, 16, is a sophomore at Central Bucks West High School in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. On December 21, 2001, while Christmas shopping with his mother at a strip mall in New Britain Borough, he found six crisp, new $100 bills. He could easily have pocketed the cash without saying anything. Instead, he showed the bills to his mom, then they called 911 and turned the money over to the police. "It was," Joe asserts, 'just the right [thing] to do."

Even the police were somewhat surprised by Joe's expression of honesty. New Britain Police Chief David Sempowski told Bucks County Courier Times reporter Christine Moran, "I think few people would have done what he did. Especially around the holidays. I'm very impressed."

During the next few weeks, in the wake of two published notices that a "significant sum of money" had been found, the department received at least a half-dozen calls from persons claiming that they had lost cash. None, however, could specify the amount or types of bills, so the money remained unclaimed. It appeared that young Csira would be able to claim it, and the Courier Times for January 21st reported that "come tomorrow, Joe Csira's pockets will be $600 deeper." Instead, however, the borough solicitor informed Chief Sempowski that a state law might require the unclaimed property to be turned over to the state. He suggested that Joe would have to sign a form releasing the borough from liability should the rightful owner, or the state treasury, eventually claim the lost largesse. A spokesman for the treasury department promptly clarified the matter, however, explaining that unclaimed property found by police officers must be transferred to the state. ...