April 14, 2005


Despite controversy, Almaden girl donates money found at Quiznos Sub

Police urge public to turn over lost items until owners are found

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

The old adage, “finders keepers, losers weepers,” no longer applies when discovering a lost valuable, according to police authorities.

Grace Arnold, 6, found $60 at the Quiznos Sub in Almaden Plaza and donated it the Apostles Lutheran School Class Mission. Photo by Sheila Sanchez

Even when the finder keeps the valuable to donate it to a charitable organization or a nonprofit when the owner isn’t found.

Last month, local police authorities were asked questions related to the appropriate course of action when finding lost money after 6-year-old Grace Arnold stumbled upon $60 at the Quiznos Sub sandwich shop at the Almaden Plaza Shopping Center.

What ensued showed the high morals, honesty and integrity of Grace, her mother, Marsi, and Quiznos Sub owner Vijay Patel, who each wanted to be safe keepers of the cash until they found the rightful owner. Problem was the owner of the money never surfaced and thus evolved the dilemma of where to donate the money. Grace and Patel each wanted to give it to their favorite charity.

Police authorities, however, are encouraging the public to first try to make a reasonable attempt to find the owner of the lost goods to return the valuables. When that’s been exhausted, they recommend the public turn over the items to them, no matter how small the amount of money or how insignificant the item may seem to be, like a child’s old bike or umbrella.

The public then has the right to put a finder’s claim on the lost items which will be recorded when they’re booked into the police’s property room where they’re held for four months or 120 days. Two to four weeks after that period expires, the finder will receive a letter from the police’s property room notifying him or her that the lost items are available for pickup. The law, however, does not apply to firearms, knives or anything that can be traced to the owner like a checkbook or identification.

“If you’re trying to do the right thing, the best thing to do is to give it to the police. Unfortunately most people nowadays are going to put the money in their pocket and go about their business,” said San Jose Police spokesman Sgt. Nick Muyo. “I applaud these folks for trying to do the right thing.”

On March 23, Grace was buying lunch with her mother, Marsi, and 2-year-old sister, Madeline, when she came upon the loot in the form of three $20 bills lumped together “like they belonged to a teenager” on the floor as her mother was getting ready to pay for their food.

Upon Grace’s announcement that she had found the money and gave it to her mother, Patel interjected asking them to turn it over to him so he could return it to the owner. Marsi and Grace did as Patel asked.

Patel, however, was under the wrong impression that Quiznos Sub company policy required him to keep the cash until someone claimed it.

The incident had Marsi calling Quiznos Sub corporate headquarters to find out if such a policy existed. When she learned that it didn’t and told Patel about it, he apologized for keeping the money and returned it to them.

Marsi, puzzled by Patel’s action, even contacted San Jose Mercury News’ Action Line columnist Dennis Rockstroh, who somewhat helped clear the matter by calling the restaurant’s headquarters.

After receiving a call from the franchise’s headquarters, Patel gave the money to Grace who donated it to Apostles Lutheran School Class Mission, which provides food, clothing and shelter to a children’s orphanage in India.

Patel, however, is upset by Rockstroh’s written response to Marsi’s question. He thinks it made him look like a dishonest storeowner when he was genuinely trying to do the right thing. He’s saying if a correction is not written in the Mercury News he will contact an attorney.

Patel said he was just doing what his family of hoteliers has done for years in San Francisco, which is to keep lost valuables until the owners claim them.

Patel said he even gave $60 to South Hills Community Church in Almaden, just for “karma’s sake.”

“She wasn’t wrong and I wasn’t wrong. We just had different opinions on how we handle these situations,” Patel said.

To reward Grace’s honesty, Quiznos Sub, in a public relations effort, has promised to give her a $300 restaurant gift certificate.

“It was never ours to begin with. We never thought about keeping it,” Marsi said. “I asked everybody about it and everyone said they would have never handed the money over to the owner. I didn’t want him to think that I wanted to keep it.”

Patel’s has his own reason for wanting to protect the money. “I thought if someone loses something they’re going to backtrack where they thought they may have left it and then that business becomes responsible. Yes, she found it, but it was still in my store. I become liable for that. I thought I was doing the right thing morally and the mother thought she was doing the right thing morally.”

Since the incident happened, customers have left a blank check and three cellular phones at the Almaden Plaza Quiznos Sub sandwich shop. Patel called the person who left the check and offered to destroy it or have it picked up. The owner of the check rewarded the store’s crew with a $10 for their honesty. The cell phone owners did the same thing expressing their gratitude to Patel for running a clean and honest business.