DAVENPORT, Iowa — A Michigan man with connections to Iowa is the lucky recipient of $317,000.
Robert, who requested to keep his last name private to maintain anonymity, received the money through the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt, run through the State of Iowa Treasurer's Office. Each year, the program helps reunite Iowans with millions of dollars in lost money.
After Robert's aunt passed away in 2016, the money she left behind was left sitting for all that time. At first, he was suspicious of the idea that so much money was waiting for him.
"Even in this instance, this individual was somewhat concerned," State Rep. Mike Vondran said. "When I reached out to him, he thought it was a bit of a scam because we were surrounded with those things today. But what he did do is he went and validated my existence by going to the legislative website, checking me out and finding out that I was a legislator and then sent a communication to me via my legislative email. I responded saying, 'it is me.' And he said, 'great, I just didn't believe it.'"
There's still more money to give out, but the next recipient won't be getting nearly as much. Vondran said the next person on his list will get $21,000.