Honest Las Vegas Cab Driver Returns Lost $221K To Owner
A Las Vegas cab driver is being heralded as a hero for returning nearly a quarter-million dollars found in the back seat of his taxi.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the cabbie, Ethiopian immigrant Adam Woldemarim, was cleaning out the back seat of his vehicle in September when he noticed a black laptop case stuffed between the seats.
Curious of the mystery case’s contents, Adam then unzipped the bag and peered inside, where $221,510 dollars was tightly nestled.
ABC reports after determining the case did not belong to the driver who had just driven the car, Woldemariam took the case to the security office of his cab company, Frias Transportation Management.
An hour later he was called back to the office and got to meet the owner of the bag, a man who had won the money at the Wynn Casino and was on his way to the airport when he left the bag in the cab.
“That kind of money, you don’t keep that,” said 42-year-old Woldemariam. “I hope all the drivers do the same thing.”
After a brief exchange that included a hug, the man told Woldemariam, “Well thank you so much!” the Review-Journal reports.
He then gave Woldemariam a $2,000 tip, which is a little over 0.9 percent of the total cash.
While Woldermarim — who works 12 hours a day and takes home $350 each week for his services — was grateful for the tip, many of his friends were surprised that he was not given more for his good deed.
“It would have been nice if my good friend got more money,” one friend, Alex “Baharu” Alebachew, told the newspaper. “But I think the most important thing here is that a lot of people think foreign cabdrivers like us abuse tourists or they long haul their customers or we’re just here causing problems and we don’t belong here.”
ABC has more on honest cab driver Adam Woldermarim’s story in the clip below:
Readers let us know: Do you think Adam Woldermarim should have been tipped more than $2,000 for his honesty in the incident? What would you have tipped the Las Vegas cab driver if he returned a similar amount to you?
