If You Saw $2,000 Lying on the Sidewalk, What Would You Do?

Mary Bleadorn had just picked up her sweet corn at the fruit and vegetable stand at 86th Street and Meredith Drive on a Saturday when she spied some papers and envelopes lying on the sidewalk outside  in Urbandale.

"At first I wasn't going to do anything with it and then I thought 'Maybe I better'," said the Johnston woman.

Three weeks later, Frank Butera, undoubtedly is glad that she did.

What Bleadorn found on the sidewalk was a UPS receipt, a sealed envelope with a name written on it, and a bank envelope with $2,000 cash inside.

"We had just moved out here," said Beadorn, who with her husband, Terry, had sold their home in Beaverdale and moved to their retirement home in Johnston. "I guess I didn't even notice there was a bank there."

She took the items home and tried to look up the names on the UPS receipt and envelope in the phone book without success. Then she called and turned the money over.

Did she even consider not turning it in?

"Never. That never crossed my mind," she said.

Eventually, Urbandale police traced the money back to Butera, also of Johnston. He declined to be interviewed for this story, but Urbandale police spokesman Randy Peterson said he'd been to the that same morning and had the receipt for the cash withdrawal.