Lee Carson thought his visit to an Oceanside Fed-Ex Office on Saturday would be simple.
He was wrong.
"I immediately thought, OK, this is one of those reality TV shows checking the honesty of their patrons," Carson said.
He just wanted to copy one page. But when he opened the lid of a copy machine, he found something someone really didn't want to leave behind: Two deposit slips, and a cashier's check for $50,000.
"My initial heartbeat was, that is a lot of money," Carson said. "It could be somebody's savings. It could be someone's down payment for a home."
The Citibank issued check was made out to a Frank Prior, from an account owned by Frank Prior. Carson said a staffer at the Fed-Ex Office offered to put the check in lost and found.
"Due to the size of it I said, 'that's not something I'm really comfortable with,'" he said.
So he drove to the Oceanside Police station, but that was closed for the weekend.
"And I thought if this was my situation, it would certainly rise to the level of an emergency, so I called 911," Carson said.
He said a dispatcher told him to go back to the station after the long weekend. So he called Citibank.
"I got a call center in Taiwan," he said. "They were somewhat confused."
All the branches had closed for the day. Meanwhile, Carson said the check is in good hands. He even turned down help from his friends.
"They offered to immediately assist in this quest if I would simply render the check to their custody," he quipped.
Carson said no thanks. He plans to go to Citibank Tuesday, their first day of business after the Presidents' Day weekend.
He doesn't even want a finder's fee. He just wants to find Frank Prior.
