'Makes you feel good:' 16-year-old boy finds $10K, returns it to rightful owner

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- A young man stumbled upon more money than he's ever seen in his life, and didn't think twice about returning it to its rightful owner.

"I feel if everyone did the right thing, the world would be a better place," said Rhami Zeini, 16.

Zeini did the right thing to the tune of $10,000.

"Pulled over. Went to the road. There's nobody around. Picked up the purse. I'm trying to find whose it was," said Zeini.

This, after he noticed a black purse in the middle of the road in Santa Barbara, California on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

"Tried to find any identification. Is there a phone number? I can call them, return the purse," said Zeini.

The high school junior found something pretty important inside. More cash than he's ever seen in his young life.

"We have seen people do the right thing many times before. We had purses that have been dropped with large amounts of cash in them, but I think this one was the first time that we had a purse with $10,000 in it," said Kelly Hoover, Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

"To me, I figured this is the right thing to do, if I take it and find whose purse it was, because if the roles were reversed and I lost something with a significant sum of money, I know I would want it back for sure," said Zeini.

The purse and cash were given back to their rightful owner, who was said to be very grateful.

"This woman was going on a hike and she said she probably left it on the roof of her car and drove away and didn't realize it," said Hoover.

As a reward, the woman gave Zeini $100.

"Just makes you feel good about humanity and that there are people out there that will do the right thing," said Hoover.