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CNN Live At Daybreak
Honesty Wins Out for Two Boys Tempted to Cash In
Aired February 15, 2002 - 05:56 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And finally this hour, a lesson in honesty from two schoolboys in Florida.
Reporter Giselle Guerra of our affiliate WTVT tells us what happened when they were tempted by a big bag of cash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GISELLE GUERRA, WTVT-TV REPORTER (voice-over): Someone is aching over what they lost on a busy Tampa street, but Jarvarious Jones has some good advice.
JARVARIOUS JONES, GOOD SAMARITAN: Like my grandma say, just pray and most of the time it come true.
GUERRA: Whoever you are out there, meet your guardian angel.
JONES: Gee, I thought I'd never get to really do nothing or to help somebody, but I really did.
GUERRA: Jones waited for his bus on 50th Street in Temple Terrace, 8:30 a.m.
JONES: My friend saw this bag not moving with cars which just flying by.
GUERRA (on camera): So Jarvarious and his friend investigated. They picked up a white plastic shopping bag. It would turn out to be the biggest temptation of their young lives.
JONES: I opened some, I found all that money too.
GUERRA (voice-over): Cash, thousands of dollars just lying in the middle of the street. The two Greco Middle School sixth graders hopped on the school bus and talked it out.
JONES: We was whispering about what we can do with it.
GUERRA: Even when they thought of being bad, they were good.
JONES: We can buy a lot of stuff and help our family, help our moms pay the bills and stuff.
GUERRA: But the boys knew what they had to do. JONES: We looked at each other at the same time and said no, just -- we just turned it in.
PAT COOPER, GRECO MIDDLE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL: They were so excited. Ms. Cooper, Ms. Cooper, we found some money. We found some money.
GUERRA: Assistant Principal Pat Cooper stood at the school desk and started counting.
COOPER: So they pulled money out of their -- out of their pockets, they started pulling hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars of bills.
GUERRA: Four thousand dollars later, Cooper handed the money to School Resource Officer Tom Carroll who handed it over to Tampa police.
OFFICER TOM CARROLL, TEMPLE TERRACE POLICE: There might possibly be a rightful owner. And if that rightful owner has like the five or six indicators that he would need to prove that this money was his, it could be returned to him.
GUERRA: Jarvarious doesn't regret turning the money in.
JONES: It might be somebody's life savings and stuff and they might need it. They might need it to help their family. Their family might be in jeopardy or something.
GUERRA: And besides, he says he'd feel bad spending it anyway.
JONES: If I would have kept it, I wouldn't be able to live with the guilt and junk. I'd be thinking about it every day.
GUERRA: After all, Jarvarious walked away a much richer person.
JONES: Because I know I did the right thing and I know God knows I did the right thing.
GUERRA: In Tampa, Giselle Guerra, Fox 13 News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Good for them. Out of the mouth of babes comes wisdom.
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