A bag holding six figures in cash sat unattended on top of a Bank of America ATM in Lewisville. A Texas barber found it, took nothing for himself and made sure all $128,514 reached police, according to CBS. Not a dollar was missing when officers went through the cash.
The 37-year-old had gone to the machine on West Main Street with a 42-year-old woman to withdraw money when the pair spotted two bags, per a police report. One held the cash, and a smaller one contained 19 checks. Information on one of the bags pointed to Chick-fil-A, so the Texas barber drove the money to a nearby location of the chain.
A manager there told him the bags did not belong to the restaurant. He then called 911 with Chick-fil-A staff standing beside him, and officers arrived to secure the money. The finder has asked not to be identified, and he told the outlet he could not speak about what happened that morning at the ATM.
Police say the Texas barber never hesitated to give the money back
The head of the Lewisville Police Department praised how quickly the finder acted. “This person didn’t blink. They took it directly to where they thought it was supposed to be,” Chief Brook Rollins said. He also said that finding that amount of money is rare, and finding it with no connection to criminal activity is unusual.
Inside the cash bag was a bank receipt listing exactly $128,514, which is the amount police counted. An officer went through the money twice by hand and then verified the total with a digital currency counter. The cash was sealed and secured in the department’s property room afterward, and investigators began working out who owned it.
Police reports show the money belonged to Bank of America and was being handled by its cash vendor, Brinks. A Brinks technician serviced the ATM and was supposed to take the funds, but accidentally left them on top of the machine. The bank has since recovered the money, and Brinks declined to discuss specifics, as it does not comment on law enforcement matters involving employee safety.
Detective Gina Miller said she has handled cases in which people turned in wallets, IDs and similar property. However, the Lewisville investigator said nobody had ever brought in this kind of money. “I’ve never had a case like this before, ever,” Gina Miller said, and she added that nothing at the ATM pointed to a crime.
Keeping the bag could have ended differently for the Texas barber. Lewisville police said failing to return the cash could have led to a felony-level theft charge, as Texas law treats theft of property worth $30,000 to $150,000 as a third-degree felony. That offense carries two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
The Texas barber first checked with the business he believed owned the money, and then he called police. A similar instinct featured in a recent story about a fake bank fraud call, in which a TikTok user said his wife hung up and phoned her bank directly. In Lewisville, the bank had already contacted police by the time a detective picked up the report.
Police gave the man no reward, and he did not seek public recognition. Bank of America said it expressed its gratitude to him, and the department now wants to honor him. However, the Texas barber has kept his distance from the attention, as he asked not to be named and would not discuss the find in detail.
The Texas barber told the outlet he would gladly attend a private ceremony if Lewisville police decide to honor him, so any recognition is expected to take place away from cameras.
Published: Oct 9, 2026 03:30 am