$100,000 in cash found stashed in old TV at Canadian recycling plant

A 68-year-old Canadian man got a pleasant surprise when authorities returned more than $100,000 CAD ($76,560 USD approx.) in cash to him after it was discovered inside of an old television set, reports ABC News partner CTV News.

A GEEP recycling plant worker found the money last month as the TV was dismantled for processing, according to CTV News. The electronics recycling firm -- located in Barrie, Ontario, about 60 miles north of Toronto -- said it contacted the police immediately.

Authorities say the money was the man’s lost inheritance.

“There was like, four stacks of $50 bills, and I knew it was a large amount of money,” Rick Deschamps, general manager for GEEP told CTV News' Barrie affiliate.

The money was hidden inside of a cash box along with documents -- which authorities used to find the owner.

When located, the man told police that he had forgotten about the cash box when he gave the TV to a friend, according to the CTV News report.

The money, which he says he stashed away some 30 years ago, was intended to be passed down to his family members as an inheritance.

The recycling plant said it praises the employee for her honesty.

“She’s representative of all our employees and it’s what we stand for and this kind of behavior is really what we would expect from everyone here,” Lew Coffin, GEEP vice president of operations, told CTV News.