A “Good Samaritan” plumber who discovered a large sum of money in a bathroom wall at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas is getting $20,000 for his good deed.
The Houston Police Department announced it is believed to be connected to a 2014 theft of about $600,000, CBS 46 reports.
The plumber only identified as Justin will get $20,000 from Crime Stoppers of Houston, according to KHOU-11.
“Crime Stoppers of Houston is a public safety organization that thrives on the public safety of all communities,” Crime Stoppers CEO Rania Mankarious said in a statement. “We believe that it takes all of us, working together, to keep Houston safe and thriving. In 2014, Lakewood Church gave us $20,000 to work on this case. In 2016, they chose to gift us those funds for operations.”
She added: “Today, we are gifting that same about of money to this Good Samaritan and wishing he and his family a wonderful holiday season.”
Mankarious told the CBS affiliate that Justin was quiet when she called to tell him the good news.
“He said ‘I can’t thank you enough. I mean these are really hard times and I wanted to do the right thing and I did the right thing, but you know these are tough times for everyone and so this money is going to go a really long way,'” she said.
Justin had initially told a local radio station about the discovery and over the weekend said he was “a little upset” he had not heard anything from the church.
“I wanted to hear [Joel Osteen] say, ‘You know, Justin, what you did was right. We understand what you did and what you could have done,’” he said after attending a service at Lakewood Sunday.
The church put out a statement Tuesday: “We are appreciative of the plumber, and we hope he pays the gift forward.”
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