Thousands of dollars fly from boat in Pekin, most still unaccounted for
PEKIN, Ill. (WMBD) — It's a story of lost belongings and a good Samaritan.
Kimberly Hobbs and her husband are Pekin residents, and Hobbs' husband was buying a boat from his friend for $5,000.
After he bought the boat, he decided that it needed too much work, and asked his friend if he could return the water vessel back to him and get his money back.
His friend obliged, but after Hobbs returned his $5,000, he put it in the boat and didn't realize it was there when he left.
On Tuesday at around 5:30 p.m., James McGrew a fellow Pekin resident, was driving behind Hobbs as he was driving the boat down Derby Street, helping his friend put it in storage.
'As I crested the hill,' McGrew said. 'The sun was shining in my eyes and at first I thought it was a bunch of junk mail flying out of the back of the boat.'
But as McGrew soon realized, it wasn't junk mail that was flying out of the boat.
'I kind of look in,' he said, 'and I noticed that there's money all over the ground and you think it's like, 'That's not real money. Those are $100 bills.''
Pekin Police Chief awards six officers for their work in the field
McGrew, and others, jumped into action, picking up as many bills as he could to take to the police department. Only $800 was returned, which is the amount McGrew took to the police.
'That's somebody else's money,' he said. 'You never know. That could be really important to them. They could need it for bills or groceries or really anything.'
McGrew made a Facebook post to raise awareness about the money so that it could be brought to the Hobbs', which got around 200 reactions and 42 shares. Even though he acted in good conscience, he doesn't consider himself a good Samaritan.
'I thought about deleting the post because there's a lot of attention towards it,' he said. 'I didn't stop and help for attention. I just saw an opportunity where somebody could use some help and stepped in.'
With $4,200 still unaccounted for, Kimberly is hopeful the community will show up for her family.
'I'm just hoping that somebody is going to have a heart and just be honest and give it back to the police so we can get our money back,' Hobbs said.
If you or anyone you know have any information regarding this matter, you can contact the Pekin Police Department by phone at 309-478-5330, or by visiting their website.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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