Orem home hiding stash of cash

OREM — Katsumasa Hibino says he knows what it's like to lose something.

He's lost his wallet a few times. Sometimes it was returned to him; sometimes not.

But when the man from Nagoya, Japan, found $10,000 cash wrapped in tinfoil in the Orem house he bought a year ago, he knew it must be returned to its rightful owner.

"The house is mine but the cash is not mine," he said. "I know it's not mine."

Katsumasa, a big-time fan of professional baseball, came to Orem on a work visa after accepting a job at International Bridge, a package-tracking firm.

Katsumasa and a friend were looking for a place to run cable for cable TV when they opened a vent. The vent, it turned out, was fake. Hidden inside was a security box.

He and his friend forced the lock on the box and opened the lid. Wrapped in foil were 53 $100 bills and an assortment of other bills. In all, the cache of cash totaled $10,000.

He asked his boss, John Farley, president of International Bridge, what he should do. Farley suggested calling the police.

Orem Police Sgt. Bill Young, who speaks Japanese because that's where he served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, met Katsumasa at his home and took the money for safekeeping until they could find the owner.

Police tracked down the previous owner of the home, Venna Williams, who now lives in an assisted-living home. The money, it turns out, belongs to her and was returned.

The woman and her husband, Cleon, lived in the home from 1986 to 1998, Orem Police Lt. Doug Edwards said.

Williams, 83, told police that her husband, who has since died, hid the money in the fake vent, Edwards said. She declined to talk to reporters about the incident, Edwards said, but she expressed gratitude for the return of the money.

The newest bill in the stack was printed in 1998, Edwards said, which suggested that the money was hidden away while the couple lived in the home.

"Finding the money was special," Katsumasa said, insisting he didn't do anything out of the ordinary by returning it. He says he felt he needed to return the money because he wouldn't want to do anything that would disappoint his daughter, Sumiho, 9, who lives with her mother in Japan.

"Japanese names mean something," Farley said. "His name means 'kind winner.' He was just being true to his name."

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E-mail: rodger@desnews.com