Man gets to keep money found in road

The contents of Kalispell's most valuable shoes were released recently to an alert driver.

It was on a windy day in April 2004 that a driver on U.S. 93 noticed what seemed to be paper blowing on the highway. The paper looked like currency. And there was a lot of it.

"Some of the stuff was hitting his windshield," Kalispell Police Chief Frank Garner said. When a bill stuck to his windshield wiper, the driver decided to stop and investigate.

He found thousands of dollars flying in the traffic lane and in the borrow pit. He collected about $3,000 and also noticed a pair of men's athletic shoes, recently worn, and picked them up, too.

The unnamed man took the cash and shoes to Kalispell Police Department.

"He was honest," said Detective Sgt. Jim Brenden, who looked for clues in the shoes. He found a cache of cash concealed beneath the insole of one of them.

In all, there was $6,400, Brenden said.

Police were suspicious about the source of the money and still are, Brenden said. It was in denominations of $20s, $50s and $100s, he said.

"It most likely was money obtained from some type of illegal means," Brenden said. If so, police could seize it.

Brenden and others ran down some leads on the shoes.

One driver, who stopped on the highway just after the man who discovered the money, said he saw the shoes fall from a truck loaded with household items. Another witness said a woman in a small, white car threw the shoes into the ditch.

But nothing led to the owner and no one turned up to claim the money.

Police didn't disclose to the public the amount of money or the type of shoes. Anyone who walked in to say they'd lost the items would have to provide those details and a bank receipt or other proof of where the money originated.

Meanwhile, the man who found the shoes bided his time. If no one claimed the money within six months and there was no proof that it was ill-gotten gains, it would be his.

"He waited in excess of six months," Brenden said.

Just before Christmas, he came in and picked up the money.

Some law-enforcement agencies keep money that is turned in. There is no state law about how it is handled and departments set their own policies.

Kalispell police prefer to see missing items returned to their owners. The next best thing is releasing it to an honest citizen, Garner said.

He was happy to hand over the cash to the man who turned it in.

"He did the right thing by turning it in and he benefited from it," Garner said.

He didn't say whether the fortune finder also wanted to keep the shoes.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com