A California woman, who returned $36,000 she found hidden in a couch she got from a family on Craiglist, said she was never tempted to keep the money.
According to ABC7 News, Vicky Umodu was browsing through Craigslist for furniture for her new home when she came across two sofas and a matching chair that an individual was giving away for free.
“I said, ‘Maybe it’s a gimmick.’ I said, ‘Let me call them,'” she recalled.
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The family that was giving away the furniture said they were liquidating items belonging to a loved one who had recently died. “I just moved in, and I don’t have anything in my house. I was so excited, so we picked it up and brought it in,” said Umodu.
But while she was inspecting the sofas after bringing them home, Umodu said she came across an unknown item that had been kept inside one of the cushions.
“I thought it was a heat pad,” Umodu said, adding that she later shot down that thought because the sofa had no electrical chord. Umodu ended up unzipping the cushion to search inside. And what she initially thought was a heat pad turned out to be several envelopes containing thousands of dollars in cash.
“I was just telling my son, ‘Come, come, come!’ I was screaming, ‘this is money! I need to call the guy,'” Umodu said.
The family of the deceased person said the total amount was $36,000, ABC7 News reported. Umodu said she never had the urge to keep the money after making the discovery.
“God has been kind to me and my children, they’re all alive and well. I have three beautiful grandchildren, so what can I ever ask from God?” Umodu said.
When she gave them back the money, Umodu said the family told her they also found money hidden in parts of the house, but that was just a few hundred dollars. The family also said they did not know why their deceased relative decided to keep such an amount of money hidden inside his sofa.
To show gratitude, the family gave Umodu $2,200 to purchase a new refrigerator for herself. “I was not expecting a dime from him, I was not,” she said.
