Story at a glance
- An armored truck was traveling on a freeway from San Diego when one of its doors suddenly opened and money began to spill out.
- Multiple cars stopped and people began to collect the fallen cash.
- California Highway Patrol and the FBI are working together to recover the stolen cash and hold criminal charges against those who participated in stealing the lost money.
It was payday for some Californians on Friday when an armored vehicle dropped wads of cash along a freeway.
An armored truck was traveling from San Diego to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. office in either Los Angeles or Orange County around 9 a.m. when one of the truck’s doors flew open and bags of cash began to spill out.
California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer Jim Bettencourt told The San Diego Tribune, “For whatever reason, money was falling out of an armored car. It was free-floating bills all over the freeway.”
Bystander video posted online showed people stopping their cars on the freeway to pick up the spilled cash. Authorities said mostly $1 and $20 bills were lost in the spill.
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Authorities did end up arresting two people at the scene believed to have stopped to collect the fallen cash. CHP sergeant Curtis Martin told local media that the two suspects locked themselves out of their car after they left them in the traffic lane to pursue the lost cash.
CHP is working with the FBI to investigate the incident and recover as much of the lost cash as possible.
“Multiple pictures and videos were posted on social media (that) captured faces and license plates at the scene of this incident. The CHP is working with the FBI to identify those who participated in the theft of money,” said Mary Bailey, CHP officer.
By mid-afternoon Friday, approximately a dozen people stopped by the CHP Vista, California office to return money stolen from the armored truck spill, according to The Tribune.
CHP released 16 photographs and video still frames that show the faces of those who took part in taking the cash off the road. Bailey also said that members of the public “are encouraged to turn in the money within 48 hours in order to avoid potential criminal charges.”
It’s not clear how much money was lost in the spill or how much was stolen.
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