Man On Food Stamps Returns $185,000 Check

Connecticut Fast-Food Worker Gets $50 Reward For Honesty

(AP)  A fast-food worker who found a $185,000 check on a Norwich sidewalk this week says he didn't think twice about trying to cash it.

Reggie Damone, who receives food stamps and works at McDonald's in Lisbon, tracked down the Norwich landlord to whom the check was written.

Then, the 47-year-old Damone took a bus Monday from his Jewett City home to a local bank and returned the wayward check to its owner's niece, who thanked him with a $50 bill.

Damone says he found the check in an envelope he picked up from a sidewalk, intending to jot down a phone number on what he thought was litter.

He says although he knew the $185,000 could pay his rent and other bills for a long time, he was never tempted to try to cash it and splurge.

He says he remembered his mother's words: If you take something, you lose three times that amount - and if you do something good, something good comes back to you.

[md621]

Why is this news? No one would be able to cash the check anyway. If this were cash, it''s a nice story, but finding a check is useless. Doesn''t the folks who report news know that. They make it sound as if this guy could have cashed the check (where would he go - to the local Chase branch and ask for 20''s). Anyway this is such a non-story.

[kailumego1]

Notwithstanding, he couldn''t have cashed this check, he could have thrown it in the trash, which would have posed an inconvenience for these short-sided unappreciative individuals.

But, $50.00, you can''t get trifling than this, considering he road the bus to their establishment to return the check..

He shouldn''t have inconvenience himself and simply left it where he found it.

[bb19631]

How cheap can those people be???? $50 reward is all he gets, shame on you.

[b-easy63]

Especially since all they had to do was issue a stop payment on the check once they realised it was MISSING if that wasn''''t already done before the guy found it.

Posted by newster1 at 12:02 AM : Jan 03, 2008


At all of my banks (I bank in several states) a stop payment begins at 30.00 per check....wonder how much it is in conn...they are usually NOT free.

[b-easy63]

I it is only a minority of Americans that actually discriminate based on color.
Posted by smiley676 at 01:43 PM : Jan 02, 2008

really? As students of a class, some time ago, we were told to go out and note over a 2 week period, the level of discrimination. We had to chart if it was blatant, (in your face) covert (hidden but still noticeable, or nonexistent. The result was that on any given day, we could each find at least 3 to 5 examples with those of color finding more than anyone else. Recently my friends and I made a bet to do a similar test. The result? The numbers have risen. We saw everything from names being called, to blacks and Hispanics being ignored for long periods of time when waiting in lines, to clerks, throwing or slamming their change down on the counter instead of putting it in their hands.

We saw it a lot. I can see, if I want to look for it--discriminatory acts on a daily basis, What has changed since the school experiment in the 1980s and now--is that we no longer want to acknowledge what we do. If you personally don''t see it--you want to pretend it does not happen. that may serve YOU well--but for those who are often the victims of discrimination--it is not easy to ignore what is rammed in their faces almost on a daily basis.

In other words--when you close your eyes, you may not be able to see anything--but don''t you dare assume the world is dark--just because YOU can''t see. Lots of discrimination, if you pay attention. easier to deny--if you don''t.

[b-easy63]

Let''''s suppose that you found $185,000 in CASH. It is in small bills, unmarked. How many of us would turn it in to the police? I don''''t think I would, Would you?
Posted by gunshack1 at 12:09 PM : Jan 02, 2008

2 years ago, my husband and I found a huge wad of bills on the floor of the anteroom to our bank. Did not know how much it was, but it was about 3 inches thick, secured with a rubber band (we heard later that it was over 3K dollars). We turned it in to the reception desk. They told us to keep it as no one could claim it with certainty. Sure they could. We told them to just note the amount and how the denominations of the bills and someone would surely come to reclaim their money. Don''t know if they did or not. But you never take anyone else''s money. If you do--for every bit you stole (and that is what it is called when something does not belong to you and you take it) you will lose 3X that amount. Just think how you would feel, if you lost that money and was wandering around trying to frantically find it...would you want someone that thinks like you do to run across it? You get back what you dish out.

[b-easy63]

his is not news. besides like someone said, he could never have been able to cash it anyways, never

Posted by cheddarboy82 at 11:07 AM : Jan 02, 2008

but he did not have to return it. He could have shredded it, or used it to scrape bird poop off of his car. the reward was paltry and whether he could have cashed it or not, he went out of his way, at his own expense to return it. Maybe after this time, he''ll just join the rest of the cynics and just shred it, then landlord can try to get another check reissued and whoever issued the check can pay the 30 to 50 dollars to stop payment on it.

[b-easy63]

If that landlord and his family do not find that man and give him more than 50.00, they will rue the day. Mark my words. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Would they want 50.00 for returning soooo much money? Or would they be outraged? If they give us a name for the worker, I''ll send him another 50.00 for being so decent--and a pox on the greedy and selfish landlord and his family!!!

[dbiando]

Give that guy everything you can, and then thank God you are better off than he is. How people can be so disgustedly smug and cruel is just beyond me. To try and find some devious reason he did what he did, or blame it on his class or situation is just pathetic. The guy happens to be HONEST. Probably more honest than most of us reading the article.

[nothappyatall]

"he fact that he got $50 wasn''''t really a reward but probbaly just a goodwill gesture to a poor guy considering the time of the year."

Especially since all they had to do was issue a stop payment on the check once they realised it was MISSING if that wasn''t already done before the guy found it.

[d33pthroat1]

The AP reporter who created this stupid story and everyone else who is praising this guy are MORONS.

The check was worthless to this guy. No bank, AMSCOT, 7-11 or any other place would cash a $185,000 check easily even if it had the guy''s name on it - and this one didnt even have that.

Yeah, yeah.. he could have "washed" it by opening dummy bank accounts using a fake ID and what not.
But then he would have been trespassing into criminal territory and possibly face jail time. How many would take that risk? If he was willing to do that kind of stuff, he wouldn''t be on food stamps in the first place.

So, this was a non-story.

Now.. finding 200Gs in cold hard cash on the sidewalk and returning it. That would have been real honesty worth reporting. This one was.. well. nothing.

The fact that he got $50 wasn''t really a reward but probbaly just a goodwill gesture to a poor guy considering the time of the year.

[clovisbuford]

its funny ,the man did the right thing, according to how he was raised.He obviously is not on top of the food chain ,note his age and what he does for a living , and you still dog him for doing the right thing,and then question his intelligence. How many 47 yr old men work at a fast food place and draw welfare , but yet you dog him for his actions, even though he is working for a living. Post and feel smug ,you are indeed the elite ,cough. and even better yet post anonymously like you are proud of your comments.Mike Watkins ,Austin TX.

[nothappyatall]

"He says although he knew the $185,000 could pay his rent and other bills for a long time, he was never tempted to try to cash it and splurge."

Yeah right, like how do you cash a check made out to SOMEONE ELSE or a company, and for that kind of money without a bank teller talking to the bank manager FIRST?
A guy looking like a LOSER or food stamp recipient walks in with a $185,000 check and asks for it in all cash, like that isn''t going to raise some eyebrows??


Even if you deposit it, there''s a RECORD of it, along with lots of your photos on all the cameras and they got you red handed cashing a forged check.

Still a lousy $50 reward is pretty stingy

[incog-nito]

This is a fine example of why the guy is still on food stamps.

[perrycbs1]

That check could have been cashed. I worked for a company that once had one of its checked improperly cashed for more money than that. I have seen dozens of check fraud cases over the years in the field service construction industry. While many cases are tracked down, a very large chunk of such cases are not and the money is not recovered either. That''s part of what bank and business insurance covers.

It is very unlikely that the company who wrote the check was even aware it was missing - thus no stop payment would have been issued (for weeks).

It may be that this gentleman himself could not walk in and cash the check. Had someone else picked it up who knows how to do it - or someone else picked it up who asked around... the check would have been improperly cashed; and the company who wrote the check and the bank would be responsible for the loss.

This gentleman exercised simple honesty - and should be applauded for it.

[michellet35]

Just a note to all the morons out there: no bank in their right minds would have cashed that check anyway. You''d need a couple forms of ID. Finding a big check is worthless; it''s not like this goofball found a bag of $20 bills. This is a total non-story, and the reporter should be fired for wasting our brain cycles.

[michellet35]

Wow, now all we need is 150 million people to do the same thing and we''ll almost break even on all the welfare in this country.

[enriquecaliente]

Wow look at how the service sector has expanded and created much needed jobs. Republicans must be jumping up and down with joy. Too bad the job doesn''t pay enough that the man has to also get FOOD STAMPS. The greatness of the trickle down economy. Let keep outsourcing our jobs AMERICA, soon we''ll have no economy to speak of.

[twentiethtry]

Well, with behavior like that it''s no wonder he''s on food stamps. If he wants to succeed he should look at what people like Vice President Cheney do.

[lol1958-2009]

what stupied reporter would put this up as NEWS. NO WAY IN HELL HE COULD EVER CASH THAT CHECK.GET REAL WHAT A WASTE .