SURFSIDE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – A local seven-year-old made the discovery of a lifetime over the weekend when he found a bag of stolen money.
“I didn’t really know at all what I thought,” said seven-year-old Griffin Steele after he found the cash.
The money was stolen during a bank robbery this week and was covered in red dye. Police are still looking for 35-year-old Brian Humphries, Jr. who is a suspect for a robbery at a Conway National Bank on Monday, January 23 and a TD Bank on Saturday, January 28.
Griffin and his father, Shane Steele, were on their way to Toys ‘R Us when they stopped at a gas station on Coventry Road.
“I got thirsty so we went into the store,” said Griffin. “But before we went in I found this $20 bill and it had this red dye on it.”
Shane Steele said the bill looked odd so he went to speak with the gas station clerk.
“I asked the lady at the register, ‘Can you use your pen and mark this and see if it’s real?’ And she said it’s real,” added Shane Steele.
When they got back to the car, Griffin went to throw away some trash in the trashcan.
“I threw it in and there was tons of money with red dye on it,” he said.
Shane Steele then called 9-1-1 and found out there had been a bank robbery just hours before the discovery.
“It was a surreal moment,” he said. “That will probably never happen again in my lifetime, finding that much money.”
Griffin said he had never seen anything like it and didn’t even think about keeping the money.
“There was a lot of it that didn’t have the red on it but I wanted to do the right thing,” he added.
Shane Steele said it was a teachable moment for him and his son.
“The moral lesson for him to do what’s right and that will be the best path and he feels great about what we did,” said Steele.
Griffin is enjoying the spotlight after his surprising find.
“I told a lot of my friends. I told teachers too,” he said with a smile.
