Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Keith McCord Reporting We found a local delivery man who wants to be Santa Claus! He found some US Savings Bonds in the snow --worth more than 10-thousand dollars-- and he wants to return them to their owner, if he can find him!
Tyler Thorpe is a driver for the freight company DHL. On Tuesday afternoon he stopped to deliver a package at a house on West Temple in Salt Lake. As he got out of the truck, he saw something on the ground.
Tyler Thorpe, DHL Driver: "I noticed them scattered everywhere, all over. I picked up as many as I could."
He kept digging through the ice and snow and mud in the gutter and he ended up with nearly 50 US Savings Bonds. Even as he re-traced his steps for us, he discovered even more!
Tyler Thorpe: "Yeah. This one's frozen. It's another 200, look at that."
He found one that was under one of the tires of his truck too. When we got done with our interview, Tyler had about $10,500 worth of savings bonds. Some of them date back to 1988 and all are made out to the same person: Jason R. Elsner.
Some of the checks had addresses at an Air Force Base in Florida. Tyler made some calls without any luck.
Q-You really want to find this guy?
Tyler Thorpe: "I do. I mean, it's $10,000. If I was missing 10,000 I'd like to know where it was."
Fortunately for Mr. Elsner, US Savings bonds are not transferable. The ones that Tyler Thorpe found weren't cashed. Only the person they are made out to can do that. Still, Thorpe would like to return them.
For a guy who's handling a lot of packages right now, this one with all the Savings Bonds is the most unusual to be sure.
Late tonight, Keith tracked down the owner of the bonds and there's a lot more to this story.