Teen returns $24,000 in untraceable bills

NEW YORK, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A Long Island, N.Y., college student has returned $24,000 in untraceable $100 bills he found while at his job cleaning a movie theater.

"It's no big deal," Christopher Montgomery, 19, said through his mother, embarrassed at the attention.

But it was indeed a big deal to RoseMarie Limoncelli, 39.

She runs a business and did not make it to the bank before going with her 8-year-old daughter to see "Happy Feet" at a local movie theater.

Halfway through the film, daughter Sabrina climbed onto Limoncelli's lap. To make room for her daughter, Limoncelli slid her purse under her seat, where it tipped over.

The bank pouch must have fallen out in the dark, she told Newsday.

On the way home, stopping for ice cream, Limoncelli made the blood-chilling discovery.

"My heart stopped," she said. "My whole body was shaking."

She frantically called the theater and -- miracle of miracles -- the money was there. Montgomery had handed the pouch to his manager.

Montgomery refused a cash reward, but Limoncelli says she hopes he'll at least accept a gift certificate to a local consumer electronics store.