Minn. waitress reclaims $12,000 tip after dispute


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MOORHEAD ? A western Minnesota waitress says $12,000 that police call drug money is actually a tip left for her by a diner.

Stacy Knutson has filed a lawsuit in Clay County District Court saying a customer left a takeout box from another restaurant at her table at the Fryn' Pan in Moorhead, near Fargo, N.D. In the lawsuit, Knutson says she followed the customer to her car but that the customer told her to keep the box. She later discovered it contained rolls of cash. :shifty:

Knutson says she called police even though she has five children and really needs the money.

Officers told her to wait 90 days in case someone claimed the money. Police later told her the cash smelled of marijuana and is being held in a drug investigation.

from: The Forum, http://www.in-forum.com

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Stupid B***h. :angry:

Why is she stupid? All she needs is to keep it, then end up with the drug dealers giving the cops her information and they come after her and catch her with drug money. How's she going to help her 5 kids if she's in jail for a crime she didn't commit? Better safe than sorry. Think before you say something stupid.

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MOORHEAD, Minn. - For the struggling waitress with five children, the $12,000 left at the table in a to-go box must have seemed too good to be true.

Moorhead police decided it was just that.

Now, the waitress is suing in Clay County District Court, claiming the cash was given to her and police shouldn?t have seized it as drug money.

?The thing that?s sad about it is here?s somebody who truly needs this gift ? and now the government is getting in the way of it,? said the woman?s attorney, Craig Richie of Fargo.

Moorhead police Lt. Tory Jacobson said he couldn?t discuss the matter.

?We certainly have an ongoing investigation with it, with suspicion of narcotics or the involvement of narcotics investigators,? he said.

Assistant County Attorney Michelle Lawson also declined to discuss the pending lawsuit.

The Forum isn?t identifying the waitress in order to protect her in case the cash was part of a drug deal.

According to the lawsuit filed three weeks ago:

The waitress was working at the Moorhead Fryn? Pan when she noticed that a woman had left a to-go box from another restaurant on the table.

The waitress picked it up, followed the woman to her car and tried to give her the box, but the woman replied, ?No, I am good; you keep it.?

The waitress thought that was strange, but she agreed and went back inside the restaurant, the lawsuit states. The box felt too heavy to contain only leftovers, so she looked inside and found cash rolled up in rubber bands.

?Even though I desperately needed the money as my husband and I have 5 children, I feel I did the right thing by calling Moorhead Police,? she states in the lawsuit.

Police arrived and seized the money, which the woman was told amounted to roughly $12,000. She was first told the money would be hers if it wasn?t claimed within 60 days, the lawsuit states. Then she claims she was told to wait 90 days.

Ninety days passed, and police told her she wouldn?t receive the money because it?s being held as part of a drug investigation. Instead, she got a $1,000 reward.

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MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) ? Authorities have decided to return a $12,000 tip to a Minnesota waitress that police believed was drug money.

Stacy Knutson of Moorhead says a customer told her she could keep a takeout container she left behind at the Fryn' Pan restaurant. The box turned out to contain $12,000 in bills in various denominations.

Police initially told her she could keep the money if no one claimed it, but later said it was part of a drug investigation.

On Thursday, after the case drew national attention, Assistant Clay County Attorney Michelle Lawson told reporters the money could not be tied to a criminal investigation, and that Knutson would get a check.

Knutson says she believed the money was an anonymous gift from someone who knew her family had severe financial difficulties.

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It was clearly left for her for a reason, but my only wonder is....how in the heck could I find luck like that? Hey, Stacy, wanna share some of the dough? (pun optional... restaurant...doh!) If anything, maybe some of your luck could rub off on me, am I right? I sure could use it right now..... :/

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It was clearly left for her for a reason, but my only wonder is....how in the heck could I find luck like that? Hey, Stacy, wanna share some of the dough? (pun optional... restaurant...doh!) If anything, maybe some of your luck could rub off on me, am I right? I sure could use it right now..... :/

You dont need luck you need better friends. Someone that knew her most likely left the money because of her families severe financial difficulties.

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This doesn't make sense - something doesn't stack up. If the police need the actual banknotes themselves for a drug investigation (which is extremely unlikely as banknotes don't have a name on it and basically impossible to trace, and most currency has narcotics on it) then they could swap the currency with a cheque since there is no accusation/suggestion that the money is stolen (as it hasn't been claimed). The accusation that the money was involved in a drug deal is simply hearsay, there is no evidence to support this (having presence of narcotics on the banknotes is completely irrelevant to being involved with a drug deal. You can do legit deals with clean notes, legit deals with dirty notes, dodgy deals with clean notes, and dodgy deals with dirty notes and the chances are all the same). Basically the banknotes themselves are unlikely to prove anything and have no value as evidence

What really doesn't make sense at all in addition to that is that she even got a $1000 "reward", which completely contradicts what the Police are saying that it is evidence in a drug deal. It either "evidence" and it needs to be held or it is not and she gets all. There is no in between from the Polce. The only "reward" can only come from the rightful owner.

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Everything belongs to the government. Everyone knows that. ;)

Your comment is now property of the Government, they 'politely' ask you to no longer point out the obvious! :D

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Sorry, was I supposed to care that you had 5 kids and now you need the money? Maybe you should have used a condom say the 2nd time, or 3rd? No? How about stop at number 4? No why do that lets make number 5. ONLY THEN realize you need the money. Hope she gets nothing.

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Let's see if this good citizen claims the $12 grand when she does her taxes next year. Hopefully the IRS is following this story.

She'd only have to claim $1000 as far as I know; up to $11,000 does not have to be claimed if it is a gift.

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She'd only have to claim $1000 as far as I know; up to $11,000 does not have to be claimed if it is a gift.

Even if she did have to pay taxes, she would get it all back. With the assumption that she makes min wage, she only makes 13k or so a year if she works full time. Another 12k puts her at 25k which is well below the poverty line for a family of 6.

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She'd only have to claim $1000 as far as I know; up to $11,000 does not have to be claimed if it is a gift.

1 - was really only meant as a joke

2 - considering it was suggested it was a "tip" that would mean it would have to be claimed as income

3 - ILikeTobacco already pointed out she is fine as long as she stays under a certain amount per year.

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