12/26/11 LAS VEGAS (KUSA/CNN) - A Colorado man found two envelopes full of cash in the Las Vegas airport, and went the extra mile to return them to the owner.
"Of all crazy things, I won money in Vegas that weekend," Mitch Gilbert said. "I felt like I was floating on air. I felt like a million bucks."
Gilbert found two Caesar's Palace unmarked envelopes at the Las Vegas airport with $5,000 in each envelope.
"I almost fell over. I couldn't believe it," he said.
After opening the envelopes when he got home, he immediately called the airport.
"I wanted to show my kids the right thing to do," Gilbert said. "I said somebody has got to be missing this."
The airport would not take his name because it was against the rules, but he kept trying.
"She goes well this is breaking the rules, but you're trying to do the right thing," he said.
The operator told him a man in El Paso, TX reported losing two Caesar's Palace envelopes full of cash.
"I knew right then, that was the guy," Gilbert said.
"I will always thank Mitch for doing this," Ignacio Marques said.
Marques says he won the money gambling, and he dropped it as he was running to catch a flight.
"Cash money, very difficult to get back," Marques said.
Marques knew the odds of someone actually returning $10,000 were slim.
"I think he was pretty much in shock," Gilbert said. "I don't know if he believed it."
Even though Gilbert's real estate business is slow, he says he never questioned returning the money.
"You think about all the bills you can pay," Gilbert said."It felt so good to be able to get it back to the guy."
I have to say, I would of been tempted to not return it, but in the end would of. Each time I do something I know is wrong, as the days pass, the guilt eats me alive at night, and I dont feel good again till I do the right thing. I guess you call that wanting to live the right way.
I hope at least the gentleman was offered a reward of some sort.
