Minn. waitress says $12K was a tip; cops say it's drug money

liver411

A Minnesota waitress has sued the city of Moorhead after police confiscated $12,000 that she says was a customer's tip but that authorities suspect came from a drug deal, the Associated Press reports.

"I do know that the person gave me what was in that to-go bag," Stacy Knutson, a mother of five who works at the Fry'n Pan restaurant, wrote in the lawsuit filed in March. "Thus as I understand it, it is mine."

Knutson says a woman left behind a takeout box from another restaurant. The lawsuit says she followed the customer out to her and tried to return it, but the woman said, "No, I am good, you keep it."

Knutson then returned to the kitchen and opened the box. Inside were three wads of $100s, $50s, $20s and $10s wrapped in rubber bands.

She believes the money was intended as an anonymous gift to help her family, which is struggling financially. Nonetheless, Knutson turned in the money to police.

Her suit says officers told her the cash was hers if no one claimed it in 90 days. But when she showed up to reclaim her the money, police refused to release it, saying the cash was part of a drug investigation because officers and a police dog detected marijuana. Her lawyer told AP at least one of Knutson's co-workers didn't smell pot on the cash.

Moorhead police Lt. Tory Jacobson said money confiscated in a narcotics case goes to the county attorney's office unless the finder persuades a judge to award the cash to her.