Big cash discovery leads to a lesson in honesty for new Bountiful homeowners

BOUNTIFUL — He hit the mother lode, but not once did Josh Ferrin even think of laying claim on the more than $45,000 cash that he found in his garage.

In fact, he gave it all back.

"You can't make plans for money like this that's found in a situation like this," Ferrin said. "It just doesn't feel right to do anything but give it back."

Within an hour of closing on his first home, Josh Ferrin, an artist for the Deseret News, used the keys to take his first official look inside.

While taking it all in, he noticed a tiny scrap of carpet peeking out of a small door in the ceiling of a workshop at the back of the garage. He got a ladder and climbed up to explore the unseen space. It was dark and musty, but Ferrin could see a black metal box sitting there.

It was a heavy metal box — the kind used to haul ammunition during World War II — and it was filled with cash, old stamps, bond certificates and other random memorabilia.

"I immediately closed it, locked it in my truck and called my wife. 'You won't believe what I just found,'" he said. Tara Ferrin immediately knew the couple had to return the money to its rightful owners.

However, Arnold Bangerter, the former homeowner, passed away in November 2010 and his youngest son, Dennis Bangerter, the executor of Bangerter's estate, had just signed the 1950s red-brick rambler away.

"When we were thinking about selling the house, I thought that now was a good time and we needed to get it ready," he said. "I had the feeling that it could be hard, but if the right family came along, it would sell quickly."

He said he knew the Ferrins were "a good family" from the moment he met them. Dennis Bangerter said he wished they could have met his father.

"Going through those boxes, I felt like I had a peek into his life," Josh Ferrin said about the man who left the surprising find. "This is a beautiful outcome and it feels good to be a part of it. It's a rare opportunity to be able to do something extraordinarily honest."

Arnold Bangerter, an fisheries biologist for the former Utah Department of Fish and Game, had purchased the home in 1966 and lived there with his wife, who died in 2005.

The Ferrins felt right about buying the home from the moment they walked inside, and a giant sequoia redwood tree in the backyard sealed the deal. Little did they know they'd be getting so much more.