Retiree Turns In $22,460 He Found on Pay Phone Shelf

A retiree who found $22,460 on a shelf beneath a Glendale pay phone Thursday promptly turned in the cash to police and it was returned to its owner, authorities said.

Louis Segal, a West Los Angeles man in his 60s, walked into the Los Angeles Police Department’s Northeast Division about 1:15 p.m. and handed over two vinyl pouches filled with the cash, police said.

“I found this. . . . It’s a lot of money,” Officer Tom Okey quoted Segal as saying.

The money, mostly $100 and $50 bills, was found outside California Car Wash in the 3900 block of San Fernando Road, police said.

After it was turned in, Los Angeles police gave the cash to Glendale police who returned it to Albert Molina, 26, of Atwater, who reported that he had misplaced it while getting his Porsche washed.

Molina described himself as “lucky, lucky, lucky” as he was leaving Glendale police headquarters with the money.

“What a relief!”

Molina said he will offer a $2,000 reward to Segal, who could not be reached for comment.

“I wasn’t even going to call the police,” Molina said. “I figured, ‘Who is going to turn in so much cash?’ ”

Molina, who owns a company that does immigration consulting, said he took the money out of a safe to buy furniture for a new business. He said he stopped to get his car washed and, while waiting, went to the phone to look up an address.

The pouches he mistakenly left behind contained the money and some financial statements, he said.

Then Segal drove up and went into the booth, finding the cash, Los Angeles police said. Segal took the money to the nearest police station.

Molina said he began a frantic search after he realized that the money was missing. But by the time he remembered to check the phone shelf, Segal was already on his way to the police station.

Before returning the money, Glendale police said they checked out Molina’s story.

“An average person doesn’t carry that kind of money around with him,” Glendale Police Sgt. Dean Durand said.