MANATEE, FL -- In his 50-year career as a plumber, Jerry Laliberte has found all kinds of things in walls and under floors: screwdrivers, flashlights, dead rats and squirrels, to name a few. But on Oct. 20, Laliberte discovered something most of us will never have a chance to touch: $20,000 in $50 and $100 bills and travelers checks.

Laliberte had been called to the empty house to stop a water leak underneath a second-floor shower floor. He was alone when he found the money, but didn’t think twice about calling his bosses and informing them of his find.