It was a Happy New Year for the Wong family this week.
A broken down truck and initiative by an employee of the San Mateo County Sheriff's office reunited a family with their cameras, photos and $200 in cash they thought they would never see again, sheriff's officials said Thursday.
A husband and wife were managing their two children at the San Francisco International Airport in May of 2014 when they left their camera bag along a curb at the terminal.
A Good Samaritan saw the bag was unattended and brought it to the attention of airport staff who contacted the San Francisco Police Department, responsible for patrolling the airport.
Police held the cameras for about two months and then turned the camera bag over to the sheriff's office in July. The cameras continue to go unclaimed and serial numbers on the cameras did not help locate the owners.
The sheriff's office placed an ad in the San Mateo Times but the bag still went unclaimed. The sheriff's office was going to send equipment to an auction. Fortunately for the family, the truck sent to pick up the equipment had mechanical problems and never made its pickup.
At that time, sheriff's property manager Samantha Dal Porto had a suspicion she could find the owners. She looked through the photos and saw a school in the background of a picture.
Local
Daly City Fire Department Capt. Paul Verducci was able to identify the Daly City elementary school and Dal Porto emailed the principal, who knew the family. The family was happy and relieved to pick up the equipment, the cash and their memories.
Lost camera @flySFO reunited w/ elated family members when SMCSheriff Property goes the extra mile to make it happen http://t.co/ByzF34BbON — San Mateo County S.O (@SMCSheriff) January 8, 2015
