Georgia man allegedly picks up $30 from the ground in Walmart. Now, the police wants the public to help in catching him

Georgia police are asking the public to help identify a Walmart shopper who allegedly picked up $30 dropped by another customer and did not turn the cash over to store employees. The Albany Police Department shared the update on social media on Aug. 18, 2026, saying the incident happened at the Walmart Neighborhood Market at 2586 N. Slappey Blvd. in Albany.

According to the department’s post, a shopper dropped $30 while inside the store. Another individual then picked up the money and apparently left without turning it in to Walmart employees. Police included a photograph of the person they want to identify.

Isn’t money on the ground finders-keepers?

Social media has largely criticized the police department’s request. A Reddit discussion sharing the Albany Police Department’s post drew thousands of reactions. Many commenters questioned why police would seek a person over $30 and described the response as unreasonable.

One Reddit comment noted sarcastically, “One time I ran out of gas and had to walk a mile to a gas station and both buy a gas can and buy gas.” On the way in, the commenter said, “I found a $100 bill on the ground in the street as I was crossing the street with my 5 gallon gas can. I’m still on the run from that.”

But Georgia law addresses lost or mislaid property. A person can commit theft by taking control of property they know, or later learn, belongs to someone else. The law also requires them to take reasonable steps to return the property to its owner. The statute does not create an automatic exception based on the amount of money involved.

Finding cash does not automatically make someone a thief. The circumstances matter, including whether the person knew the money belonged to someone else and whether the person took reasonable steps to return it.

In Belgium, construction workers recently found gold bars and coins in a wall. Belgian authorities took possession of the valuable discovery as they investigated its origin.

Walmart does not appear to publish a general lost-and-found policy for when customers find lost items in the store. Walmart’s current public policies page lists several customer policies, but a retail-store policy addressing found cash does not appear among them

As of Aug. 21, a search of publicly available local news coverage did not locate a report from a local Albany news outlet about the incident beyond the department’s social media post. Albany Police have not announced an arrest or publicly identified the shopper.

The department continues to ask anyone who can identify the person in the photograph or provide information about the incident to call 229-431-2100.