Found money...

ROSEMOUNT, Minn.

A 16-year-old Minnesota boy "was just being a normal kid" when he gave away $100 bills to fellow students from an apparent stash of drug money he had found, a sheriff's deputy said.

When asked how he got the money, the student in the St. Paul suburb of Rosemount first said it was his allowance. He later admitted he found it in a ditch when pressed by the deputy.

The boy gave away about $11,000. Law officers from four Rosemount, Farmington and Lakeville schools collected the money from students and from a school bus aide who reported to her supervisor she had found $1,200 left in her bag at the end of her route.

Dakota County Sheriff's Deputy Dawanna Witt, who has worked with the teen at the Alliance Education Center, an alternative high school in Rosemount, said at first she didn't believe the money had come from a ditch.

Witt told the St. Paul Pioneer Press she thought: "That's right up there with the dog ate my homework."

But it turned out the boy wasn't lying.

The boy, whose name was not disclosed, led another investigator to a highway ditch in Farmington, where he had found a grocery bag filled with nearly $18,000 in cash on Monday. Scales and 4 pounds of marijuana were found nearby.

Investigators with the sheriff's office say they had a good idea who might have tossed money and drugs out a car window.

"We are confident that it is tied to an ongoing drug investigation ... where this guy ditched it while he was being followed by the cops," Chief Deputy David Bellows said.

The 16-year-old boy gave away cash to some students from his neighborhood. One teen then gave money to a friend. None of them is expected to face charges.

The 16-year-old told Witt he found the money while riding his bicycle. Shortly afterward, he began distributing the money to friends and acquaintances, including his bus aide.

"He said because she needed it. She has kids, and she needed it," Witt said. The deputy told The Associated Press that the boy had asked the aide if she could accept gifts, and she told him she could not. She later found the money in her bag and, based on her conversation with the boy, knew where it came from, Witt said.

"I think he was just being a normal kid" in giving money away, the deputy told the AP. She said the sheriff's office is holding on to the money for now as part of another, ongoing investigation.

Tom Severson, a supervisor with the bus service, said he would not comment on the incident, but he confirmed a bus aide had approached him about cash stashed in her bag.

Witt, who said the 16-year-old has learning disabilities, said it took two tries to get the boy to tell the whole story.

"I said, 'If you feel like you need to tell me the truth, you just turn back around.' We pretty much have an open-door policy," Witt told the Pioneer Press.

"He walked out of the office, came back in not even 30 seconds later and said, 'Ms. Witt, I got to tell you the truth.'"

"He's a good kid, he really is," Witt said. "I told him you should have turned the money in, but he tried to disburse it to people he felt needed it for one reason or another. I didn't see any malice in it at all."

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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com

that kindve reminds me of my grandson when he was about 3yrs old. my daughter was seeing this guy and he had been sleeping and my grandson got ahold of his money, and he gave away about $300 to the neighbors. and yea the kids kept it and a few of them you saw the next day wearing expensive shoes...
my grandson is 11yrs old now. i dont think he would remember that scene.

why can't i find that kind of money????

What a great kid

Im sayin.

that money would've helped me out considerably.

When I was a kid I went down the road to buy a paper and saw money blowing across the parking lot.

I gathered it all up and went into the bank in front of the lot.

I turned the money in to the manager who found the man it belonged to.

He was a father of five who had just cashed his check. It was all the money he had. He gave me twenty dollars and a huge teary hug.

That was 1966 and that twenty was a lot of money to me then.

a rare quality considering what most people would have done with the money if they found it. Good for you and I hope you have a good conscience when you did this at the time

Well, at the time I was just a kid that knew lots of money must belong to someone and I was still silly enough to think people did the right thing.

You don't keep things that aren't yours.

You try to right wrongs etc.

But that moment, the mans hug and tears, made a huge impression on me that has lasted. It was one of those life altering moments you know?

I was riding home from the bank last summer and found eleven dollars on the ground in front of a bar...I kept it.

a good feeling indeed.

Hey you took my 11 dollars!

NO way, It's my 11 dollars...LMAO

I'm going to need legal representation.