Bundles of cash -- some $46,000 -- were recovered Friday from a Columbus landfill.
The trashed stash of cash was found in the Pine Grove Municipal Solid Waste Landfill on Sacerdote Lane off Schatulga Road.
"It was found buried in garbage that had been there for some time," Deputy City Manager Isaiah Hugley said Tuesday. "It had been there for a number of years."
An employee working alone found the money while moving trash from one area to another. The employee was moving the excess garbage somewhere else because of federal and state regulations restricting how much garbage can be stored in an area.
He was backhoeing, digging trenches and digging up several bags of garbage when he stopped after apparently spotting the money, police Lt. Gil Slouchick said.
Hugley said the employee immediately called his supervisor and reported the finding. The money, $20 bills in clear plastic bags, was retrieved.
"I commend the employee," Hugley said. "The employee could have done something unethical but called a supervisor."
The director of Public Services, Rufus Riggs, was notified of the money and his department turned it over to Craig Strain, who manages the revenue collections division in the city's finance department. Hugley said that he was notified of the incident about 3 p.m. Friday.
At some point, the money was taken to the bank to be deposited, but it smelled horribly, Hugley said. "The bank was obviously concerned with the smell."
In an attempt to make the money smell better so it could be deposited, the revenue collections division then cleaned the money.
"My understanding is Craig Strain did something to clean the money," Hugley said. "I don't know what he did that it wouldn't smell so bad."
Sometime between the initial attempt to deposit the money in the bank and cleaning the money, Columbus police were notified.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/9258726.htm
The trashed stash of cash was found in the Pine Grove Municipal Solid Waste Landfill on Sacerdote Lane off Schatulga Road.
"It was found buried in garbage that had been there for some time," Deputy City Manager Isaiah Hugley said Tuesday. "It had been there for a number of years."
An employee working alone found the money while moving trash from one area to another. The employee was moving the excess garbage somewhere else because of federal and state regulations restricting how much garbage can be stored in an area.
He was backhoeing, digging trenches and digging up several bags of garbage when he stopped after apparently spotting the money, police Lt. Gil Slouchick said.
Hugley said the employee immediately called his supervisor and reported the finding. The money, $20 bills in clear plastic bags, was retrieved.
"I commend the employee," Hugley said. "The employee could have done something unethical but called a supervisor."
The director of Public Services, Rufus Riggs, was notified of the money and his department turned it over to Craig Strain, who manages the revenue collections division in the city's finance department. Hugley said that he was notified of the incident about 3 p.m. Friday.
At some point, the money was taken to the bank to be deposited, but it smelled horribly, Hugley said. "The bank was obviously concerned with the smell."
In an attempt to make the money smell better so it could be deposited, the revenue collections division then cleaned the money.
"My understanding is Craig Strain did something to clean the money," Hugley said. "I don't know what he did that it wouldn't smell so bad."
Sometime between the initial attempt to deposit the money in the bank and cleaning the money, Columbus police were notified.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/9258726.htm
