‘Significant amount of cash’ found, turned in

By Catherine Lee
The Guardsman

Following a campus-wide email sent by City College Police Chief Andre Barnes concerning a significant amount of cash found and turned in at the Ocean campus bookstore by City College student David Bannon, the police department believes they might have found the owner of the lost money.

Rachele Hakes, an information officer with campus police, said a person emailed the department to claim the cash after Chief Barnes returned from vacation.

While the cash is in the process of being claimed, very little information can be given to the public, Barnes’ assistant Deborah Ramirez-Chase said.

“Nobody’s claimed it for sure yet,” she said.

Ramirez-Chase said that there had only been about six messages so far.

“And the vague ones don’t count,” she said. “Those are the folks who call and say they ‘lost some money’ or ‘lost their wallet’.”

Claimants were required to know the money format details, like type and value of bills, and how they were folded.

While Chief Barnes was on vacation, Ramirez-Chase screened the calls and forwarded the reasonable inquiries to Barnes when he returned.

She indicated that it is a little unusual to have cash turned in, and thinks it may be easier to turn in objects that clearly have sentimental value, like jewelry.

Bannon, however, said it never even occurred to him to keep the money.

“I knew that I would have felt terrible if I lost my book money. Whoever lost [the money], they were going to need it for books, for school,” he said.

The most important message for students is, “as soon as you find something that’s important, turn it in to the police office in Cloud Hall,” Ramirez-Chase said.

As for Bannon, even if campus police called him to tell him no one had claimed the money and that he could keep it, he said he still wouldn’t.

Bannon said that if the money went unclaimed, he wouldn’t keep it.

“I would give it over to the book loan program,” he said. “I just want it to get back to the person who lost it … It’s not heroic to return money. It’s normal.”

Alex Emslie contributed to this article