Finders keepers! City Council says homeless man can keep $70G find

FILE: Timothy Yost smiles at a meeting at his attorney's office. (MyFoxAustin)

BASTROP, Tex. – Six months after a homeless man found at least $70,000 in cash abandoned in a Texas park, the local City Council has ruled he can keep the money.

MyFoxAustin reports the Bastrop City Council voted unanimously to let Timothy Yost keep the bag of 70 $100 bills and 40 kruggerand coins he found in a wet plastic bag January 18 along the Colorado River.

Kruggerand coins are collector coins from South Africa, that, according to one seller's website, sell for approximately $1,600 apiece.

Police seized the money after Yost brought the loot to a local bank in hopes of exchanging some of the wet bills for dry ones. Yost and his attorney, Aleta Peacock, filed a lawsuit against the city to get the money back, which has since been dropped.

MyFoxAustin reports police at the meeting said they launched an investigation with the FBI and determined the money was not involved in any illegal activities. They also searched for the owner of the money and received many calls claiming it, but none of the calls were determined to be valid.

Though Yost will receive the money within 48 hours, he will not be able to access it immediately as he is in jail on a public intoxication charge. However, his attorney said at the meeting the opportunity to keep the money "means everything" to Yost.

"He has a whole future ahead of him," Peacock said according to MyFoxAustin. "He has the opportunity to make plans and have a real future."

Yost told MyFoxAustin he already knows what his first purchase will be in an interview last month.

"I've been walking for so long, first thing I want is a vehicle," he said.

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