With an officer’s sharp eye and a fortunate gust of wind, more than $3,000 in lost cash blowing around a central Minnesota road was returned to its owner.
Stearns County Deputy Shirley Zwack was driving down County Road just after 4 p.m. Friday when she met an oncoming car, then noticed what at first glance could have been leaves flying through the air, Stearns County Lt. Jon Lentz said Monday.
But Zwack sensed it wasn’t leaves and after stopping to take a closer look, she found that instead it was $100 bills.
Lentz said Zwack spent about 30 minutes collecting the cash -- $3,010 in all. After grabbing 30 $100 bills, five $5 bills and five $1 bills, a breeze blew another piece of paper her way, a bank receipt.
That receipt led her to the bank, the Central Minnesota Credit Union Avon branch, and the money’s rightful owner, who also was able to retrieve a wallet and cellphone, though the phone was no longer working.
ADVERTISEMENT
“She did a fabulous job,” Lentz said of Zwack, who has been on duty in Stearns County since the mid-1990s. “The times you get to truly help someone out are the most memorable and I think she’ll remember this for a long time.”
