Lost cash recovered at Coquitlam IKEA returned to rightful owner, police say

Police returned the lost cash to Pantelis Sarris on Friday, Nov. 18. (Coquitlam RCMP)

A large sum of cash lost at IKEA in Coquitlam in September has been returned to its rightful owner, thanks to the efforts of a staff member, a radio station and the local RCMP detachment.

Pantelis Sarris lost the cash on Sept. 11, but was reunited with it last week, after Coquitlam RCMP made a public appeal for the owner of the money to come forward. 

According to a news release from the detachment, Sarris was furniture shopping for his daughter when the "bundle of cash" fell out of his pocket.

Someone found the money in the 350,000-square-foot store, and an IKEA employee turned it over to the police.

After losing the money, Sarris shared the story with the "Weekend Regret" segment on local radio station JackFM, but it wasn't until Mounties issued their appeal for the owner of the cash that "the connection was made," police said.

"This is the outcome that we hoped for and are very pleased to see," said Cpl. Alexa Hodgins in the release.

"It’s really nice to see how the community came together to reunite Pantelis with his lost cash. Without the genuine integrity of the finder turning the money over to the police, this ending would not be possible."

Sarris had the money returned to him on Nov. 18 after proving ownership by telling police the denominations of bills that had been found and how they were stored.

"Coquitlam RCMP would like to remind the public to report lost large sums of money to the Police to increase the chances of having the money returned," police said in their initial appeal last week.