Honest to Goodness : Youth Turns In Money That Blew Out of Bank Robber’s Car

Just as Carlos Alvarez walked out of the Highland Park office where he works part time, he saw green pieces of paper flying out the window of a speeding car.

“I thought (the driver) was littering at first,” Alvarez, 18, said Thursday. “I was thinking, ‘What a bad person.’ ”

Alvarez didn’t know the half of it. When the teen-ager walked over to pick up some of the paper, he discovered it was cash instead of trash.

The money, Alvarez soon discovered, had been stolen only minutes earlier from a Security Pacific bank in the 5600 block of North Figueroa, across the street from where he works.

And though Alvarez, a student at John Marshall High School, said he could have used the cash to beef up his personal savings account, he chose instead to return the money to an assistant bank manager.

“Some kids at school said, ‘You’re dumb, you should’ve kept it,’ ” Alvarez said. “But even though I found it, I knew it wasn’t mine. I (had) to turn it in.”

Bank officials said Alvarez was one of two bystanders to return $876, nearly all the money that was stolen during the robbery. As of Thursday, no decision had been made on whether there would be a reward.

But reward or not, Alvarez is happy. Since he performed the good deed Tuesday afternoon, he has been praised by his teachers and by co-workers in the office of Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles).

“Everyone was calling him a hero, the whole office was proud,” said Bill Mabie, assistant to the assemblyman. “Most people look at the youth these days in Los Angeles and don’t have much confidence. What he did is an indication that there are a lot of good kids out there.”

Tuesday’s events began to unfold shortly before 1 p.m.

Alvarez, who interns for Polanco as part of a high school government and economics class, was sitting at his desk when he noticed a red Dodge Colt parked on the street.

A short time later, he left the office to get something out of his car and saw the Colt speeding away with the green paper flying out of a window. A closer inspection revealed that the litter was wads of $1, $20, and $50 bills, plus some loose bills blowing around on the street.

“I thought it was play money, but I went through it and it saw it was real,” he said.

“I was thinking of going to Reno,” Alvarez said jokingly.

But he realized what was up when he noticed bank employees standing around across the street.

“I asked what happened,” Alvarez said. “They said there was a bank robbery, and I said, ‘I assume this (the money he was holding) belongs to you.’ ”

The robbery occurred about 12:45 p.m. when a man handed a note demanding money to a bank employee, said Detective Suzanne Mann of the Los Angeles Police Department. The man then fled and was still at large.

Alvarez said he doesn’t feel like a hero. “My mom and dad taught me (that) I have to be responsible and honest,” he said. “I would do it again.”