A wallet full of cash buried in the bottom of a grocery bag full of empty bottles and cans is about to be returned to its owner and a local resident couldn’t be happier.
“I am just thankful the person got their money back. It’s one of those human interest stories that has a happy ending,” said Steve Carter.
Carter said he was waiting for his wife outside the No Frills grocery store on Lougheed Highway in Port Coquitlam Friday when he spied two grocery bags sitting next to a garbage container. An avid bottle collector who gives his proceeds to the needy, Carter opened the bags to see what was inside and was surprised to find a women’s wallet inside one of them.
As he rifled through the wallet looking for ID, he found bills amounting to nearly $300.
“I was in shock, I couldn’t believe it. Who would leave their wallet in a bag full of bottles?” he wondered.
He called Coquitlam RCMP, who picked up the wallet and were able to match the owner through the contents of the wallet.
“It’s a really good outcome and we really applaud the person who turned in the money,” said RCMP spokesperson Michael McLaughlin.
As for Carter, he will continue to collect bottles for funds to support vulnerable people in his community but he doesn’t expect to recover such a find in the future.
“It’s a once in a lifetime thing,” he said.
