Firefighters teach honest 5-year-old an important lesson in good karma

GREER, S.C. — A fire department is teaching a 5-year-old boy that good things happen to people who do the right thing.

Earlier this year, Dave Starzec lost his wallet. He was finishing a trip to a Lowe's hardware store in Greer, S.C., when he set his alligator-skin wallet down on the bumper of his car. Inside the wallet was $2,000.

"I was carrying my wallet so close to my heart, and I put it down for one second on my bumper to pick up a bale of mulch," Starzec told ABC News. "I normally don't leave things like that so important lying around."

He didn’t realize his mistake until he got home. He immediately retraced his steps but had no luck.

"I had everything but my wife in my wallet," Starzec told Greenville Online. "This wallet meant more to me than just the money."

On his way home, he stopped by a fire station to make sure no one had turned in his lost wallet.

Capt. Benjamin Farmer took Starzec’s card and told him he would follow up if he found out any new information about his missing wallet.

“I was in the middle of cancelling my American Express when my phone rang, and it was the fire department,” said Starzec.

A family had found Starzec’s wallet in a parking lot. Farmer saw the family’s post in a local Facebook group and quickly connected the two.

Miranda Clayton; her 5-year-old son, Dylan; and her mother-in-law, Peggy Lynn, found the wallet together.

Starzec was relieved to have the wallet back in his hands

To thank them for their honesty, Starzec organized a luncheon for the firefighters and the family.

The family received good citizen plaques. Starzec even gave them a $200 reward.

“They did the right thing, and we figured they needed an award for it,” he added. “We wanted to show the child too that if you’re going to be honest in the world, there’s good things that come to you.”