would you?

keep it or return it, that is...i think i would have kept it

Kid finds $24,000 cash in movie theater, returns it?

Christopher Montgomery, 19, found $24,000 in cash as he was cleaning between seats. The student returned it. Every dollar.

Montgomery, a liberal arts student at Nassau Community College, yesterday was reluctant to talk about his choice. "He won't come out; he's not the type of kid that likes attention," said his mother, Donna Montgomery, 49, outside the family's home. "He said, 'It's no big deal.' I think he's embarrassed."

But for the Hewlett woman who nearly lost the $24,000, it was a very big deal indeed. The untraceable wad of $100 bills, rubber-banded together inside a zippered bank pouch, tumbled unnoticed from the purse of RoseMarie Limoncelli, 39, as she sat Friday inside the AMC Fantasy theater. Limoncelli runs a business, and like many this time of year, she's been a bit harried lately.

"It's the holidays and I'm running in all different directions and trying to do my shopping in between," she said. On Friday, she still hadn't made it to the bank when it came time to accompany her 8-year-old daughter, Sabrina, to see "Happy Feet" at 7:15 p.m.

Halfway through the film, Sabrina climbed onto Limoncelli's lap. To make room for her daughter, Limoncelli slid the purse under her seat, where it tipped over. The bank pouch must have fallen out in the dark, she said.

On the way home, mother and daughter stopped for ice cream. In line at the cash register, pint of Häagen-Dazs in hand, Limoncelli made the the blood-chilling discovery. The deposit bag was gone.

"My heart stopped," she said. "My whole body was shaking." Frantic, she called her husband at home. The money wasn't there. She dialed information for the movie theater's number -- and was apoplectic when they placed her on hold.

"It was like the longest two minutes of my life," she said. "I screamed at the operator when she tried to give me the address and I said, 'I don't care, just give me the number!' ... I was hysterical, crying."

When she called the theater, Limoncelli experienced the holiday miracle she will likely recount for years to come. After examining the cash, Christopher Montgomery had handed the pouch over to his manager.

Limoncelli said he refused a cash reward, but she hopes he'll at least accept a gift certificate to P.C. Richard & Son.

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