Driver Spots $8,000 on Freeway, Tells CHP : Traffic: La Palma man sees bag, goes home and calls authorities. The cash and checks are apparently from store robbery.

A driver who saw about $8,000 in stolen cash and checks on the freeway as he headed to work Thursday notified the California Highway Patrol, a CHP spokeswoman said.

Joe Wenhsiang Lin, 34, of La Palma told authorities he was driving east on the Artesia Freeway between Beach Boulevard and Knott Avenue about 8:15 a.m. when he saw a plastic bank deposit bag in a freeway lane, according to CHP Officer Joan Rivas.

One bundle, which was wrapped in clear plastic, said “Food 4 Less” and was apparently part of the money from a 5:30 a.m. robbery at a Hawthorne grocery store, Rivas said.

Lin turned around, drove home and called the CHP to let them know the money was on the freeway.

“An officer was dispatched to pick the money up” from the freeway, Rivas said. “It’s strange that somebody on the freeway didn’t hit (the bag) because there would have been money flying all over the place. You can imagine what that could have done to traffic.”

The CHP and Hawthorne police don’t know exactly how the bag of cash was left on the freeway.

“There could have been an argument between the suspects, or they could have gotten into a traffic crash and dumped the money bag on the roadway with the idea of coming back later,” Hawthorne Police Detective Ron Frazier said.

Rivas, who checked the morning activity log, said the deposit bag may have been dumped after the suspects’ vehicle was involved in a traffic accident. The log indicated that an officer was sent to check a report of “some strange-looking debris on the freeway,” he said.

“An officer of ours did go out and look,” Rivas said. “There was debris on the roadway that might be money and . . . motorists were stopped and people were picking it up, at least that was the report. But when she got there, she didn’t find anything.”

A short time later, Lin called the CHP.

A spokesman for Food 4 Less could not be reached for comment.