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LEHI — Seven years after discovering $550,000 in his bank account and making headlines, a Lehi man now takes care of his children full-time and runs a video blog.
Jake McCloud was first featured in the news as a 14-year-old who discovered a large amount of money in his account that was mistakenly deposited by Utah Community Credit Union. McCloud immediately contacted the credit union branch and told it of the mix-up. The credit union corrected the mistake and thanked McCloud for his honesty.
Now, McCloud is a single father of two and spends his days as a full-time dad working from home. In April, he launched a video blog on YouTube that highlights simple, cheap activities to do with your children.
“I try to make one part of the day what I’m doing with the kids,” he said. “It’s a good way to pass the time and have fun with the kids.”
McCloud said a lot has changed in his life since he was featured in the news, including his haircut. He said he has been embarrassed for years about the terrible fauxhawk/mullet combo he sported when interviewed by KSL in 2008.
“I went and lived with my uncle in Henderson, Nevada, for about a month and, like, all he talked about was entering into a mullet contest,” McCloud said. “And he was just getting superpsyched about me being in one. So we went to a Sports Clips and this lady cut my hair into a mullet with a fauxhawk on the top and a mullet in the back. And it was like the worst decision I’ve ever made.”
McCloud got a lot of feedback from friends and relatives about the haircut after they saw the KSL article. He said he’d been known for having weird haircuts in the past, but he has "normal" hair now.
“I do have a record of pretty terrible haircuts, but that one was just the worst because I was all over the news with it,” McCloud said. “I feel like I had to redeem myself at some point in my life.”
Despite how he feels about his past hairstyles, McCloud said his honesty in 2008 has positively impacted his life.
“Maybe it does make you make better decisions,” he said. “I don’t really think I’ve been faced with anything that big of a deal to be honest about (since then,) but … it’s a good memory to be able to look back on.”
Jake McCloud
