Teen Turns in Ten Grand

A 17 year old Federal Way (WA) teen found a small fortune in his grocery store employer's bathroom. After a short struggle with his conscience, he turned the money in to his manager and the money was returned to the rightful owner:

“My dad is always telling us in this life you’ve got to work for yourself,” said Moisei Baraniuc, who goes by the nickname Moses. “If you take what doesn’t belong to you, it will catch up to you.”

Instead what caught up with him was the man who lost the money, Fred W. Smith, who paid a grateful visit to the supermarket Wednesday evening.

The night he found the money bag, Baraniuc turned it over to his boss, Suanne Schafer.

Schafer took the bag to a secure area with another store worker, who then counted the money.

They were shaken up by the $10,000 amount – 85 hundred-dollar bills and 30 50-dollar bills.

“Besides being really, really shocked, I had an overwhelming sense of pride for Moses for doing the right thing,” said Schafer, the store’s guest services manager.

“You always hope that people would do the right thing,” she said. “He didn’t even think twice.”

Federal Way police are also praising Baraniuc.

“That was great,” said Cmdr. Stan McCall. “I think that’s very honest and shows a great deal of integrity.”