Plumber who found $600K in wall of Joel Osteen's church says he deserves reward
The plumber who found a large sum of money hidden inside the walls of a Houston megachurch is now saying he should get a reward.
The man, who wants to remain anonymous, found $600,000 in envelopes of cash and checks inside the walls of Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Texas that could be connected to a 2014 theft at the church.
“I didn’t solve their case, but I solved very key important clues as to what could or may have happened there,” the plumber said.
At the time of the theft, Crime Stoppers offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Houston police say the investigation is ongoing.
But because of how the plumber found the loot and the expired statute of limitations on this particular felony theft case, the man will not get any money.
"That doesn't preclude Lakewood from giving him a reward or a combination from HPD congratulating him on doing the right thing. Unfortunately, Crime Stoppers is out of the picture at that point," Deputy Director of Crime Stoppers Houston, Nichole Christoph said.
If the plumber had not fixed the loose toilet at church the money would still be in the walls and now.
In March 2014, church officials reported thieves cracked a safe and made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Houston Police at the time reported $200,000 in cash and $400,000 worth of checks had been taken in the theft.
"I feel like I should get something," the plumber said. "I feel like some type of reward should get offered to me."
