Brighten Your Day

Stranger Returns Lost Wallet And Adds Extra Cash

November 27, 2018

A Good Samaritan who found a lost wallet on a flight returned it to its rightful owner – and threw in some extra cash.

Hunter Shamatt, 20, was on his way to his sister's wedding in Las Vegas earlier this month. The wallet containing his ID, $60 in cash, a debit card and a signed paycheck, was lost on the flight from Omaha to Denver.

Shamatt received a package a few days later which included his wallet and a letter.

Credit: Jeannie Shamatt

"On our way to Vegas for my daughters wedding last week, Hunter lost his wallet," Jeannie Shamatt wrote on her Facebook page. "Unfortunately it had 60.00 cash, his identification card, his signed paycheck and his debit card. Once we realized the wallet was missing, we called Frontier Airlines to see if someone turned it in. After fearing the worst that everything was gone, tonight Hunter received a package in the mail with his wallet and a letter signed with only initials. On the envelope a return address out of Omaha from Applied Underwriters. We would love to thank the individual personally if we could find him or her. Please help share this post so we can find this amazing person."

After an interview with a local news station in Omaha, the Shamatts were able to meet the man who returned the wallet.

"I personally want to thank Todd Brown and his wife for restoring faith that there are amazing people out there, the world is not as grim as it's being made out to be," Jeannie wrote in a follow-up Facebook post.

Brown said that he thought about giving the wallet to the flight crew, but wanted to make sure he got it back.

"I saw he was just a kid, 20 years old, he had a paycheck in there, so I figured, 'Well, he's doing his best to make ends meet,' but I was 20 once, and that's a lot of money for a kid," Brown said.

"I imagined what it would be like to get your wallet back, so I added a little bit so he could celebrate."