Driving up to one of the exact-change booths on Florida’s Turnpike, Nancy Torres never expected to find a $5,000 jackpot.
Torres, 38, a single parent and college student who recently moved to Central Florida, certainly could have made use of the unexpected treasure.
But, she said, the thought of keeping the money never crossed her mind.
“I would not have had peace with myself,” she said. “It wasn’t my money. . . . I feel better when I go into a store and pay with my own cash, not somebody else’s.”
On her way home from her evening pharmacy technology classes at West Side Tech in Winter Park, Torres discovered that the driver in front of her at the Orange Blossom Trail tollbooth had dropped his wallet while reaching out to pick up dropped change.
Torres tried to get the man’s attention by honking her car horn and waving her hands at him, but he did not realize her intentions and continued his drive through the booth.
Torres decided to pick up the wallet, which she reported to police using her cellular phone. The wallet, which she said was “bursting open,” contained more than $5,000, much of it in cash.
Torres reached Orange County Deputy Sheriff Jeffrey Bogen, who returned the wallet to its owner.
“I was very surprised,” Bogen said. “I told her she was an amazing person. Most people in that situation would have turned in the wallet empty.”
The owner said he planned to contact Torres and offer a reward. So far, she said, she has not heard from him.
Torres said she saw no alternative to handing the wallet over to its rightful owner.
“Some people were like, ‘Oh, you’re so stupid. You’re not working. You could have gone to Disney World. You could have gone on a shopping spree,’ ” she said. “I was concerned when they said that to me, because I was like, what kind of friends do I have?”
