OTTAWA — The observant eye of a good Samaritan may have saved the chance for a high school baseball team to play a game on a minor league field when he found a bank bag containing $1,790 cash for their dream game.
Frank and Karen Doll were returning home from the store on the evening of April 8 when Frank spotted a bank bag on the wet pavement on East Main Street in Ottawa. He turned around, got out of the car and grabbed the bag, which he tossed in his wife’s lap.
“I unzipped it, and I said, ‘Frank, there is a whole lot of money in here,’” Karen Doll said.
The Dolls’ only thought was to find the owner, but they weren’t sure where to start. She called Putnam County Sheriff’s Deputy Greg Westrick, who she has known since he was a child. Turns out he was on duty and could drive right to the scene.
“I told him, ‘We found a lot of money. We don’t know what to do with it, and can we give it to you?’” she said. “We just wanted to find the owner.”
Westrick brought the bank bag back to the sheriff’s office, recorded the money and the checks inside the bag which he noticed were made out to Miller City High School. There also was a Toledo Mud Hens baseball ticket inside.
Westrick had a starting point. He called the athletic director for the school and, after a short time, found the owner of the missing money.
As it turns out, the school’s varsity baseball coach, Dustin Pester, who is used to handling baseballs and bats, not money, was going to take the money bag to the bank after practice but was busy that night and didn’t make it to the bank.
Pester, who said he rarely handles cash, returned to his Ottawa home. He was inside his garage when he noticed the door to a refrigerator was open. He set the bag on the bumper to close the door. Then his young daughter walked up to him, further distracting his attention. He carried her into the house, forgetting the bank bag.
As circumstances would have it, Pester’s wife needed to go to the store and took the car, the same one with the money bag sitting on the bumper. On the way to the store, the bag fell off onto the roadway to be found a short time later by the Dolls.
“I’m very fortunate great people like the Doll family found the money. I don’t know what percentage of people would do what they did. They should be commended for their good Samaritan act,” Pester said.
While Pester said he’s embarrassed by the situation, he’s just relieved all the money was there, and the team has a chance to play at Fifth Third Field in Toledo. The team worked hard to sell at least 300 vouchers to Toledo Mud Hens games to have a chance to play Ayersville High School there this Wednesday, he said.
The money is for the Mud Hens and not a fundraiser for his baseball team, Pester said.
Karen said she and her husband never had any thought other than to find the owner of the money.
“We felt so sorry for the person losing that much money. We didn’t know who it was,” she said.
Westrick said he’s not sure how many people would have turned in the money, especially nearly $2,000 in cash. But he also knows the Dolls and the type of people they are, so he said it didn’t surprise him at all they turned in the money and were more worried about finding the rightful owner.
“Usually for something like that you may get the checks back, but it’s not common to get the money back,” Westrick said.
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