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Nov 09, 2024

Man loses wallet full of cash in rain in Chicago, another man finds it and comes to front door - CBS Chicago

By Jermont Terry November 8, 2024 / 11:35 PM CST / CBS Chicago CHICAGO (CBS) -- A wallet with hundreds of dollars in cash was lost in Pilsen—then found and returned by an anonymous Good Samaritan.

By Jermont Terry

November 8, 2024 / 11:35 PM CST / CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A wallet with hundreds of dollars in cash was lost in Pilsen—then found and returned by an anonymous Good Samaritan.

Social media helped shine a light on the selfless act—and helped create a heartwarming moment.

Anyone voting on Election Day this past Tuesday could not avoid the heavy rain showers—including Ezequiel Fuentes, who voted at Harrison Park in Pilsen.

"It was raining outside," Fuentes said. "I ran outside with my baby. I don't know at what point I lost my wallet."

Fuentes did not realize he had dropped his wallet until he got to a store.

"At the moment of pay, I'm like, where's my wallet? I thought I left it in the car," he said. "I ran to the car. I looked everywhere. At this time, it was still raining."

At that moment, Fuentes started to panic—because not only were his ID and credit cards in the wallet, but so was a good sum of cash.

"Quite an amount of money in there," he said. "I was going to go to the bank to deposit that. I didn't get a chance to."

Meanwhile, Luis Cruz had just finished voting at the same precinct at Harrison Park.

"I saw the wallet and all the money in the wallet," Cruz said.

The black wallet caught Cruz's eye—and the soaked cash did too.

"Yes, there was a discussion, but it was short-lived," Cruz said.

Cruz knew whoever dropped that $1,000 outside at Harrison Park had a true need for it—and Cruz himself couldn't keep it.

"Even if I would have needed it or could have used, I think that I'm OK with what I did," Cruz said.

So Cruz went to the front steps of Fuentes' porch and banged on the door.

"It was hard banging, and I was in the back of the house, and I was like, what the hell is going on?" said Fuentes' stepdaughter, Alondra Pena.

Pena was hesitant to open the door for the stranger. Yet just as Cruz was about to give up, Pena opened the door.

As seen on doorbell camera, Cruz then showed Pena the wallet.

"I was one asking, do you know the person who lives here? I found his wallet," said Cruz. "I could just tell how shocked she was that I was returning it."

Pena was shocked and very pleased.

"I like look at the wallet. It's full of like hundred-dollar bills," Pena said. "I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, this man is great!'"

At that point, Fuentes was back at the park searching frantically, when he got a call from Pena.

"She's like. 'Hey, somebody found your wallet and brought it home, and I'm like, 'Oh my God,'" said Fuentes. "My heart just like sank, like right there. It was like complete peace.

Yet as quickly as Cruz arrived, the doorbell video shows him leaving even aster.

"I was going to ask him, and he just like leaves," Pena said. "I was like, 'OK, Robin Hood."

So Pena went to social media and shared still images.

"And an old friend messaged me and said, 'Hey, that's my cousin,'" she said.

CBS News was there as Cruz and Fuentes shook hands.

"This gentleman was just like an angel," and Fuentes.

Cruz said he does not think of himself as an angel.

"I think that I just did what everybody hopes somebody would do for them," he said.

But Cruz's action, going up to that porch and returning Fuentes' wallet to his stepdaughter, speaks to the heart of Chicago.

"People like you represent Chicago, and I can't thank him enough," said Fuentes.

Jermont Terry joined the CBS 2 team in October 2019. He's born and raised on Chicago's South Side. He's happy to return home to report on his community after 18 years of uncovering stories across the country.

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