Homeless Hero: Good Samaritan, out of work, turns in backpack with $42,000 in cash, travelers checks

(CBS) BOSTON - A homeless man is being hailed a hero after he found a backpack containing more than $42,000 in cash and travelers checks, and turned it in to police at a shopping center in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood.

The "homeless hero" was identified as Glen James, and the mayor's office planned to issue a special citation to him for his honesty and character, CBS Boston reported.

Boston police officers at the South Bay Mall were flagged down by James outside a TJ Maxx Store late Saturday afternoon. He said he found a black backpack that contained a large sum of money and a passport in the front of the store.

Officers took the backpack and its contents, and notified store security at the mall about the backpack.

According to CBS Boston, later Saturday night, police were contacted by an employee of a nearby Best Buy store who said a customer had lost his backpack.

The passport matched that customer's identity and the backpack, with its $42,000 cash contents, was returned to him.