NM woman parlays $1 investment into $5,500 payout
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A Santa Fe woman has parlayed her sister's $1 investment in an old ammunition box into a $5,500 payout.
Marlene Arsola received the check this week from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
She tells the Albuquerque Journal that her sister bought a couple of metal ammunition boxes for $1 each at an auction about eight years ago.
One box was empty but the other had shredded currency.
Arsola's sister took the bills that were partially intact to the bank and received $400 to $500 for them. She turned over the smaller shreds to Arsola, who enjoys doing puzzles.
She didn't put the pieces together but eventually contacted the Treasury Department about the mutilated money.
She discovered the check in her mail Thursday.
Marlene Arsola received the check this week from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
She tells the Albuquerque Journal that her sister bought a couple of metal ammunition boxes for $1 each at an auction about eight years ago.
One box was empty but the other had shredded currency.
Arsola's sister took the bills that were partially intact to the bank and received $400 to $500 for them. She turned over the smaller shreds to Arsola, who enjoys doing puzzles.
She didn't put the pieces together but eventually contacted the Treasury Department about the mutilated money.
She discovered the check in her mail Thursday.
Gaeat story.
For those who want more information, click the link in the story. Â I copied some of the pertinent information below.
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"Thinking about it, I think it was probably a little old man who maybe buried it and then died. The family probably didnât even know there was money in there.â Wherever it came from, the sisters speculate that mice got into it and shredded the currency."
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"Finally, Arsola took what was left to her bank and asked the employees there for suggestions. They told her she might try contacting the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
 âSo I went to their website and there was information on what to do with mutilated money. I sent it in and got a letter back that said they got it, but it might take them 18 months to two years to investigate,â Arsola said.
That was two years ago.
âAbout a month ago I was thinking about it again and called them,â she said. âI told them I wanted to know what happened to my money. I wasnât very nice.â
Then early Thursday morning Arsola went to pick up her mail. Among the envelopes was one from the U.S. Treasury."
Makes me wonder why the currency was shredded. Why someone put it in the ammunition box might never be known.
A complete story answers:WhoWhatwhenWhereand most importantly
WHY
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KOMO - WHY was this woman given that much money for currency confetti? Should we shred our dollar bills and send them to the Treasury and expect the same return?
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Jeez, I never jump on the KOMO reporter bashing bandwagon but this story is simply incomplete.Â
 @SoTweetie It's not Komo's fault that you did not know common knowledge that damaged bills could be exchanged for crisp bills at the bank.
 @SoTweetie Yes, damaged currency can be replaced by the Treasury if it is possible to determine -- or even accurately estimate -- the value of the damaged bills.
@Ben Ezzell @SoTweetie Yes, but the story is still incomplete. She contacted the US Treasury... what does that mean...??? Did she send them the box of money and wait to hear from them and heard nothing until this check came? Was there a letter with the check? Was the Department somehow able to piece together the pieces and figure out how much had been in there? Or maybe they matched all the serial numbers? This story makes it sound like the woman called or wrote to them letting them know she had a box full of shredded money and then received a check out of the blue. If that's really the case, then something is wrong here! SoTweetie is right... this story should not have been published without some more information or investigation!
  @Ben  @SoTweetie SoTweetie and justathought - I copied some of the information from the original story up above.  It's a pretty cool story :)