Man Who Found $25,000 In Hollowed Out Book Sends Money To Man Who Saved His Life As A Child
CBS LocalLast November, a resident of Marlborough, Mass. had an unusual surprise when he went to the Wellesley Recycling and Disposal Facility to look for books.
Inspecting a book in the facility's trash, he found that it was hollowed out. Inside was more than $20,000 in cash.
The man, an immigrant from Brazil, began looking for the book's owner. By April he was still looking, even setting up an e-mail address for people to claim the money, stipulating that they must identify the book and the amount of money found.
After six months, he finally realized that whoever owned the book was not likely to come forward. The Brazilian immigrant decided to spend the money but not before giving something back to his home country.
According to Wicked Local Wellesley, the man, now identified as Carlos Valadares, sent $5,000 of the $25,645 he found back to a man who saved his life when Valadares was injured during a hunting trip during his childhood.
Valadares had lost contact with him but later found him using Facebook and visited him, giving the man's children iPads, and giving money to two different teenage girls in Brazil to learn English.
Valadares also donated money to local charities.
The Wicked Local Wellesley reports he is spending $5,000 on a trip to Brazil to see his mother, and plans on saving $4,000 for the future.