Dad's Lesson in Honesty Costs Him $14K

An Ohio man says he was trying to set a good example for his children when he turned in $14,000 he found on the side of the road. Jake Bowers found the money April 8 as he drove his family to a park in Worthington, a Columbus suburb, reports the AP. Bowers says when he initially saw what he tells the Worthington News was a "blue felt bag" on the roadside, he thought it might contain someone's laptop. Instead, it was filled with $100 bills.

Bowers and his family drove straight to the Worthington police station, and the bag was returned to its owner. It wasn't too hard to find him: WBNS-10TV reports a wallet containing the owner's ID was inside the bag. Bowers tells the News it would have been nice to put the money toward his car loans, but he had something more valuable in his hands: "the opportunity to help restore someone’s faith in humanity." A police report says the owner had taken the cash to a car dealer but left without buying a vehicle. He told police he must have left it on top of his car and driven off. (More Good Samaritan stories.)