PINE LAWN, Mo. - The mayor of this St. Louis suburb fancied a rare $1,000 bill that was seized in a traffic stop, so the town wrote the driver a check and the politician kept the cash.
Not a fair trade, according to the driver, a retired trucker who said he'd carried the bill in his pocket for two decades.
"If you take a personal item from someone, you should give it back," Curtis Smith Sr., 71, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
County police and prosecutors found that Pine Lawn officials broke no laws. But Don Schneider, a spokesman for St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, said, "It's a bad idea for a city official or politician to have access to evidence. It creates the appearance of impropriety. We don't advocate doing business that way."
Calls to City Hall on Thursday seeking comment from Mayor Adrian Wright were not answered.
Experts said collectors will pay $1,300 to $3,500 for the bill showing President Grover Cleveland, depending on its condition. The U.S. government printed its last $1,000 bill in 1934 and took the denomination out of circulation in 1969 after technology replaced paper notes for transfers of large sums.
Smith's note was seized last April when he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. Smith said he was sleeping off a few drinks in his truck.
Smith was taken to the police station, where the mayor watched as police counted Smith's money, including the $1,000 bill, several $100 bills and a few $2 bills.
Wright said he wanted the bill "as a novelty item." The mayor fetched 10 $100 bills, and police switched the money and deposited it in an account for seized drug assets, a report said.
In September, county prosecutors refused to charge Smith and ordered the money returned.
The city issued Smith a check for $3,231 to cover the $1,000 bill and his other cash.
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Good grief. GIve me a break. There is nothing worse than a corrupt politician. Who cares if the mayor didn't break any law? There's such a thing as doing the right thing....
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If that $1,000 bill is worth more than $1,000 or even if it is some type of keepsake, it should be returned to the trucker. It is his personal property and doesn't belong to that city. Missouri must have some really different laws on the books.
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Mayor steals $1000 bill
