SANTA BARBARA, California -- A teenager is being recognized for his remarkable good deed after he found a purse with thousands of dollars inside and turned it in to authorities.
Rhami Zeini, 16, was driving home from school Wednesday when he saw the purse on a street, sheriff's officials said.
After unsuccessfully trying to find the owner's phone number, the teen and his parents drove to a sheriff's station and handed over the bag with nearly $10,000 inside.
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Authorities were able to contact the purse's owner, "who was very grateful, as you can imagine," and arranged to have it and the money returned to her, authorities said in a Friday statement.
"She believes she left it on the roof of her car when she drove away," the statement said.
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The purse's owner gave the Laguna Blanca High School student $100 as a token of her appreciation.
"Rhami said he was just doing what he would want someone else to do if he lost something valuable," the statement said.