http://www.ocregister.com/articles/b...061-told-money


Friday, December 26, 2008
Family finds $10,000 cash in a box of crackers

Irvine family returns cash discovered in a cracker box from Whole Foods.

By ERIKA CHAVEZ
The Orange County Register
Comments 35 | Recommend 15
The box of Annie's Sour Cream and Onion Cheddar Bunny crackers was green – but the Rogoff family had no idea that its contents were green, too.

Sandra Rogoff reached into the cupboard on Oct. 10 and opened a box of crackers, only to find an unmarked white envelope taking up residence next to the bagged crackers. She opened it to discover $10,000 in $100 bills.

Sandra told dad Joe, who told daughter Allie, who told brother Max, and soon the Irvine family was gathered around the envelope, counting the money, posing for pictures and wondering how the heck it got in there. "It was a fun, action-filled Friday night for us," said mom Debra Rogoff.
It took 15 minutes for the family to settle down and call the police. Keeping the cash never crossed their minds, Debra Rogoff said.
"We just thought, this is someone's money," she said. "We would never feel good about spending it."

Debra had purchased the crackers earlier in the week at Whole Foods at The District shopping center in Tustin. Tustin police responded to their home and speculated the money was part of a drug drop.
Police went to Whole Foods where managers told them an elderly customer came in a few days earlier, hysterical after she realized she had mistakenly returned the box of crackers with her life savings inside. Frightened by the government takeover of several banks, the Lake Forest woman, whose identity was not released, had decided to take her money out of the bank and hide it in her home.

Police told Rogoff that Whole Foods usually sends returned food to a composting facility in the Inland Empire, and store managers told the woman her money was likely gone. An apparent mix-up led the box of crackers to be restocked on the shelves, where an unsuspecting Debra Rogoff purchased them. She guesses that the elderly woman glued the box shut after putting the money in, "because I'm a pretty careful shopper. I would have noticed if the box was open."

The Rogoffs never heard from the woman and didn't receive any sort of reward. But Debra did return to Whole Foods a couple of weeks later.
"I asked them if I could have another box of crackers," she said with a laugh. The store obliged.
Whole Foods officials did not return a call for comment.