Monday morning began as usual for Fresno County Sheriff's Office Community Service Officer, Sean Wood.
Wood said, "I was making my morning runs to the district attorney's office, taking some paperwork over there, nothing real exciting but happened to come across an envelope that looked a little bit out of place."
Tucked in a shrub were 14 cashier's checks totaling $350,000. Initially Wood thought he was being set up.
"First of all I was looking for some cameras," said Wood. "These are some pretty big numbers and I thought I'm on candid camera or something, who knows. But, looked around for a little bit, didn't see anybody so I decided to bring them in and turn them over to our detectives."
Detective Ed Mayo immediately began tracking down the investor who accidentally dropped the checks on his way to a public auction outside the Fresno County courthouse.
Mayo said, "As he was exiting the vehicle, at some point, it fell out and it was on the ground and at some point presumably and then at that point someone appeared to have picked it up and put it in a bush or on a bush and sean was able to find them."
Jake Aguilar is the local investor who lost the checks. He spoke to Action News by phone Tuesday since he was working out of town.
"I think I just had kinda gotten used to tucking them behind my iPad and knowing that they're there and secure and not really being as careful as I should have," said Aguilar. "It's actually the first time I've even dropped them."
Luckily, Aguilar says he didn't have to endure the stress of losing the valuable envelope, because he didn't even know it was missing until he got a call from Detective Mayo.
"I didn't really have the time to freak out about losing them because I didn't know they were gone," said Aguilar. "As soon as I found that I had dropped them just all the things that could've happened you know just running through your head."
