Stolen purse recovered from storm drain two years later

July 6 (UPI) -- A public works employee in Illinois found a purse stashed in a storm drain and was able to return it to the woman from whom it was stolen nearly two years earlier.

The city of Wheaton said in an Instagram post that Public Works employee Rocco Sangiacomo was performing maintenance on a storm drain in the Chicago suburb when he came across a purse that still had the owner's driver's license inside.

Sangiacomo tracked down the owner, who still lives at the listed address about two blocks away from the storm drain, and learned the purse had been taken during a home burglary in August 2019.

Police said a suspect had been arrested in the case and charged with residential burglary.

"We applaud Rocco for going above and beyond with his strange sewer discovery and helping bring some closure to the victims of this crime," the post said.