Battle Over Buried Treasure Begins

A buried treasure uncovered in Bastrop has people wondering who it belongs to and where it came from.

Last week a man found a bag of money along the Colorado River in Fisherman's Park in Bastrop.

Police say this may not be a case of "finder’s keepers." Now, another Bastrop man says there's a chance it could belong to him.

Bastrop Police are holding the money, giving the possible owner a chance to come forward. They aren't saying what kind of currency it is or how much its worth, but it could be a lot.

According to Police, last week a man found a bag of cash and coins partially in the water at Fisherman's Park in Bastrop. He went to a bank to exchange it for dry, new money.

The teller got suspicious and handed it over to police, but apparently not before it was weighed.

Bastrop resident Nicole Jimenez says she was at the Bastrop Police Department last week when a man asked to use her phone. He was trying to call a lawyer to help him get back a bag of money he found.

He told Nicole it was a bag of gold coins and showed her a certificate of authenticity from the bank for $80,000.

"He just said he found it whenever he was down here somewhere trying to wash his hands and feet, and found the money there, gold coins. I've never heard of anything like that, the whole time I've lived here," Jimenez tells FOX 7.

Police have not said exactly where the bag was discovered.

One Bastrop man is anxiously waiting to find out. For 22 years, Frank Wise has owned land that neighbors Fisherman's Park. He says his 19 acres ends at the water's edge. A fence lines most of his property, but not all of it.

"I have a severe trespass problem here. This is one of their common trespass points...they don't care about that [private property] sign," said Wise.

Now he's wondering if a man was trespassing when he found a bag of money along the river in the area.

"My question is, if it was found upstream from that line, I'm gonna go talk to a lawyer about it, it would basically be like stealing out of my backyard," said Wise.

Wise says things have washed up on his land before. This is the first time he's heard about any buried treasure, but if it was found on his property, he believes he should be the one with the money.

Bastrop Police will hold on to the money for 30 days and then post a notice in the newspaper about the money.