Unemployed Wayne Sabaj found $150,000 and gave it to the police

What would you do if you were 49, unemployed, forced to move in with your parents in the house you grew up in, sleeping in the same bed and then one day you found $150,000 in your parents’ back yard, and your parents said they didn’t put it there?

This is exactly what happened to unemployed carpenter Wayne Sabaj.

Last Monday, Sabaj, who was forced to move in with his parents in McHenry County, Ill, went out to his parents’ garden to pick some broccoli for dinner.

While in the garden, Sabaj found a bag full of $20 bills. 

Sabaj told a local reporter that the first thing he did was asked his father if it was his money, and after his father said no, then he called the police saying “It wasn’t my money…I don’t know where it came from. With my luck it came from a bank robbery, and I’d be charged with bank robbery.”

While the police were at Sabaj’s father’s home, they found another bag with $20 bills bringing the total amount of money found in the garden to $150,000/

Sabaj, who said he spent the last $10 he had on cigarettes, said his first concern was that the person who put the money there might come back to claim.

Police believe the money was recently placed in the garden based on the condition of the bags. 

Sabaj said his son had a bonfire in the backyard over the weekend.  He also said that kids in the neighborhood cut through the property to get to the other side.

Police left a note where the money was found with a sign instructing the person who placed the bag in the garden to “please call” them if they would like to collect the money.

Police are deciding whether Sabaj will keep the cash if it is not claimed.  Sabaj said he has hired a lawyer.

Did Sabaj make the right choice?