A New York City man working three jobs to support his family experienced a Christmas miracle when the wallet he lost in a city cab was returned to him – along with all the money inside.
Annie Martin, a television make-up artist, found the wallet stuffed with $340 in the back of a cab while riding to work last week.
But there were no clues inside the wallet as to who its owner was, so Martin reached out to WABC-TV’s Nina Pineda for help.
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Pineda trekked to the Bronx after finding two receipts in the wallet for the Baychester Payment Center, a check-cashing business. There, cashier Sonya Carballo looked up the date and time on the receipts, and matched it to the photo records the shop keeps of each person making a transaction.
Carballo recognized the customer.
"He cashes his check here every Saturday," Carballo told WABC-TV. "That was his whole check, his whole paycheck in that wallet."
Carballo sent an employee around the corner to find the owner of the wallet, Gabriel Hernandez, who has worked as a dishwasher in an East Village pub for the past eight years.
The hardworking dad works three jobs, and the money in the wallet was for his two sons’ Christmas presents.
"Gracias," a grateful Gabriel said. "Feliz Navidad."
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