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Good Samaritan awarded unclaimed $15,000 he turned in to police

Stack of $20 bills. 

UPPER DARBY, Pa. — Honesty is the best policy, especially for Bob Tracey.

Tracey found a Wells Fargo bag containing $15,200 in the middle of the road on March 7, 2016, as he was on his way home from work, according to the Philadelphia Enquirer. He called police and turned in the find.

After more than a year, about six months of which was spent maneuvering legal hurdles, a judge ruled that Tracey can have the money after no one claimed it.

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"The bureaucracy was a nightmare for the guy," Upper Darby police Superintendent Michael Chitwood told the Philadelphia Enquirer. "He had to jump through a lot of hoops for being honest. Most people would have taken the money and kept on going."

While police received a few calls about the money when it was first turned in, those people did not have any proof that it was theirs.

Police also found a digital scale, a crack pipe and an unidentified liquid in the bag, so they said it was unlikely that the owners would come forward to claim the cash.