Hopkins Manager Recovers Lost $2,500 Thanks to Good Samaritan

A month ago, Nick Wesenberg’s story didn’t appear to be headed toward a happy ending.

The Napco vehicle spares manager had planned to buy a van Aug. 20. But that deal fell through, and he realized the next day that he’d lost the $2,500 he’d planned to use for the van.

Five days later, though, a man stumbled upon an envelope in the Napco parking lot on the south side of Excelsior, near 17th Avenue, said Police Sgt. Michael Glassberg. Inside the envelope, was $2,500 in bills, wet from the rain and wrapped in a rubber band.

The man—a resident of a northern suburb who wished to remain anonymous—could’ve kept the money. Instead, he turned it in to police, explaining that he had been a Boy Scout growing up and wanted to take the honorable course.

“He just said it was the right thing to do,” Glassberg said.

Hopkins police sent out an e-mail to other agencies in the metro. Yet they still couldn’t find who the money belonged to.

So officers went to local TV stations to spread the word about the found money, Glassberg said. After 10 days, they got a hit.

"I told my boss about it 2 days after it happened. I just mentioned it to her in passing, and she just shook her head. 'Ha-ha,'" Wesenberg told Fox 9. "Well, Monday of this week she came running into my office and said someone in the lunch room was talking about a news program they had seen."

(Patch is still attempting to contact Wesenberg.)

Wesenberg wasn’t the only one who came forward to claim the money. The department received about a half dozen claims, Glassberg said. But he was the only one who knew details that police had withheld—such as the denominations, where the money was found and when it was found.

“None of them even came close to matching,” Glassberg said.

Wesenberg, an Eagle Scout, is now seeking to return the kind gesture by offering the man a reward. It’s not clear whether the anonymous man will accept. Whatever happens, one thing is clear.

“It’s a great ending to a story,” Glassberg said.

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