Vegas Cab Driver Finds $222,000 in Back Seat

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A taxi drives on a Las Vegas street.

A Las Vegas cab driver was cleaning the back seat of his van last month before his 2 p.m. shift when he discovered something that wasn’t garbage.

Between the seats was a black laptop case filled with $221,510 in cash.

After phoning the driver who used the vehicle earlier to make sure the money wasn’t his, 42-year-old Adam Woldemarim took the bills to the security office at Frias Transportation Management — the company that owns Woldemarim’s employer, Virgin Valley Cab, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

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An hour later, Woldemarim received a call instructing him to return to the office, where he met the owner of the jackpot. The owner, a 20-something who won the cash at the Wynn hotel the night before, gave Woldemarim a hug and a $2,000 reward, the Review-Journal reported.

The Review-Journal reported that Woldemarim, not expecting a reward, happily accepted the money. His prize amounts to more than what he makes in a month — around $1,400 — and he plans on sending some of his earnings to family in Ethiopia.

However, some of the cabbie’s friends and co-workers aren’t satisfied. They told the Review-Journal that $2,000 doesn’t even amount to a 10% tip.

“It would have been nice if my good friend got more money,” said Alex Alebachew, a fellow cab driver. “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. They never see the good side to us, the honest side.”

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