Suburban Chicago man honored by police after turning in lost wallet with nearly $6,000

WHEELING, Ill. (CBS) -- A suburban man did the right thing when he found a wallet filled with nearly $6,000 cash at Chicago Executive Airport recently, and he earned himself a big thank you.

Last month before work, Bill Winquist was watching the planes land at Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling—when he noticed an almost comically large wallet sitting in the parking lot.

"How could he fit that much in there—it was pretty well overstuffed," said Winquist. "I picked it up, and it was just amazing."

An iconic scene from "Seinfeld"—in which Jason Alexander's George Costanza character tries to close his comically large wallet, only for its contents to go flying into the street—was all Winquist could think of.

"I laid that all out, tagged it all, so that we knew fully what was here," Winquist said. "It was exactly $5,784."

After counting and tagging all the cash that had been in the wallet, Winquist tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with the owner. So what he do with all the money?

"This man did the honorable thing, and he turned it into the police," said Chief Bill Caponigro of the Prospect Heights Police Department.

Winquist, a Franklin Park native, was honored by the Prospect Heights Police Department with an outstanding citizenship award for turning over the money—every cent of the nearly $6,000.

"We get a lot of 'lost' wallets. Rarely is there ever any money in inside," said Chief Caponigro. "I knew right away that we've got to honor this guy."

Winquist has surely been asked many times why he did what he did in this case.

"It's what I would want someone to do for me if I had lost the money," he said. "Hopefully, there are more folks out there—more than not—that would do the same thing."

The money and wallet have been returned to their owner. He wishes to remain anonymous.

CBS News Chicago is told the man was eating in his car in the airport observation area the night before, and must have lost his wallet then. The money was intended for a new car.