Locals use social media to return dropped rent money

A 7-Eleven customer almost lost hundreds of dollars after his rent money spilled out of his pocket on Oct. 25 in the parking lot on Newbridge Road. However, due to the thoughtfulness of three local residents, the man had his money returned to him.

“When we left the 7-Eleven we saw the cash,” said Bellmore firefighter John Scalesi, who was off-duty and shopping with another off-duty firefighter, Matthew Smith, and his cousin, Danny Duggan, of Lindenhurst, when they found the money. “The wind was blowing it all around the parking lot.”

The three friends immediately collected the bills and brought them back into the establishment, asking the storeowner if they were his. He said they weren’t, but put them in a bag and promised to look at their surveillance camera to try and identify the owner.

Scalesi took to social media by posting what had happened on Facebook and asking if anyone lost money outside the 7-Eleven. He recalls his hope that in a close-knit community like Bellmore, the case would be solved in little time.

“In two hours, six people tried to claim the money,” Salesi said, adding that none of these people matched the image in the surveillance camera.

After 16 shares, however, the true owner saw the post and stepped forward. According to Scalesi, the man who lost the money declined to comment.