Teen finds purse with $10,000 inside, turns it in to Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- A Santa Barbara County teenager is being recognized for his remarkable good deed after he found a purse with $10,000 inside and turned it in to authorities.

Rhami Zeini, 16, was driving home from school Wednesday when he saw the purse on a street near the intersection of Turnpike and Cathedral Oaks roads, sheriff's officials said. After unsuccessfully trying to find the owner's phone number, the teen and his parents drove to a sheriff's station and handed over the cash.

Authorities were able to contact the purse's owner "who was very grateful, as you can imagine," and arranged to have it and the money returned to her, the Sheriff's Office said in a Friday statement.

"She believes she left it on the roof of her car when she drove away," the statement said.

The purse's owner gave the Laguna Blanca High School student $100 as a token of her appreciation.

"Rhami said he was just doing what he would want someone else to do if he lost something valuable," the Sheriff's Office said.