Homeless man in Detroit finds bonds in trash bin worth nearly $21,000, gets $100 reward

(AP) A homeless man searching for returnable bottles in a trash bin found 31 U.S. savings bonds worth nearly $21,000 in a bag of clothes.

Charles Moore, 59, took the bonds to a 24-hour walk-in homeless shelter, where a staffer tracked down the family of the man whose name was on the bonds.

"They belong to him," Moore told The Detroit News. "I did the right thing."

Ernest Lehto's family had given away many of his clothes shortly after his death in 2004.

How the bonds ended up in the trash bin is a mystery, but Lehto's family left Moore a $100 reward.

"What a good Samaritan," said Neil Lehto, who picked up the bonds Friday that had belonged to his late father.