JOSE NUNEZ ROMANIZ was on a mission to buy socks for his grandfather. He’d just helped him find the right ones online, after the elder man had no luck finding them in stores.

The 19-year-old Nunez just needed to deposit money into his bank account to make the online purchase. When he tried, he made an astonishing find — and what he did next has earned him praise and a bit of fame in New Mexico’s most populous city.

Nunez drove to an ATM outside a Wells Fargo bank branch Sunday morning just two minutes from his Albuquerque home to make his deposit.

As he pulled his truck alongside the machine, he spotted a clear plastic bag on the ground. It was a stack of US$50 and US$20 bills, he said.

“I didn’t know what to do. I was, like, dreaming,” Nunez said. “I was just in shock. I was looking at myself and just thinking, ‘What should I do?’”

Nunez said he never considered keeping the cash — but all sorts of wild thoughts raced through his mind. Was this some kind of trick? Was someone going to pull up behind him and kidnap him?

With the bank closed, Nunez called Albuquerque police. Two officers arrived, and the teenager handed over the money. The officers counted the cash back at their station: It totaled US$135,000.

Albuquerque police understand the money was mistakenly left outside the ATM by a bank subcontractor that was meant to supply the machine with cash, officer Simon Drobik said.

When asked for comment about Nunez’s actions Thursday, Wells Fargo spokesman Tony Timmons said he would defer to the vendor that services the ATMs.  (SD-Agencies)