UPPER DARBY, Pa. (AP) — A suburban Philadelphia transit worker who found $15,000 and turned it in to police has been given the cash since no one ever claimed it. 
 
 Bob Tracey was driving home from work last March when he spotted a black bag in the middle of the road. When he opened it, he saw dozens of $100 and $20 bills and immediately called police. 
 
 The Philadelphia Inquirer reports (http://bit.ly/2odkaL8) a judge on Monday ordered the money returned to Tracey. 
 
 Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said some people claimed the money was theirs, but they had no proof. He said it was unlikely the real owners would come forward since the bag also contained drug paraphernalia. 
 
 Tracey had to petition the court under a law dealing with finders of lost property. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com ||||| On 9 shot at N. Philly party: 'In Bensalem, it would be called a mass shooting' 
 
 On 9 shot at N. Philly party: 'In Bensalem, it would be called a mass shooting' May 28 
 
 Stephanie Farr has been a reporter with the Daily News since 2007. She covers everything from crime to basic human decency. 
 
 Michael Chitwood, Upper Darby superintendent of police, and Bob Tracey, right, who found $15,200 and turned the money in to police, at a news conference last year 
 
 For Bob Tracey, it pays to be honest – it pays $15,200, to be exact. 
 
 Last March, Tracey, 62, found a bag full of $15,200 in cash in the middle of State Road in Upper Darby. He immediately called police and turned the money in to authorities. 
 
 Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood was so impressed by the good deed, he said at the time that he believed the money should go to Tracey, a SEPTA worker, if nobody claimed the cash. 
 
 And this week – after more than a year – a judge agreed with him. 
 
 On Monday, Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge Charles Burr II ordered the money returned to Tracey, according to court documents. 
 
 Although Chitwood believed the money should have been returned to Tracey within 90 days if the owner did not come forward, Tracey was forced to petition the courts in September to get the money returned, as was first reported by the Delaware County Daily Times. 
 
 According to Tracey's petition, under state law "a finder of lost property has a valid claim for title of that property against all persons except the true owner." 
 
 It's unclear why Tracey's legal battle dragged on for six months. A listed number for him was not operational, and calls to his attorney were not immediately returned. 
 
 "The bureaucracy was a nightmare for the guy," Chitwood said. "He had to jump through a lot of hoops for being honest. Most people would have taken the money and kept on going." 
 
 Tracey was driving home from work at SEPTA's Norristown High Speed Line around 11:45 p.m. March 7, 2016, when he noticed a Wells Fargo bank bag in the road in Delaware County. 
 
 He parked his car, grabbed the bag, and opened it. Inside he found "multiple stacks of cash-money wrapped in bank wrapping," according to the petition. 
 
 Chitwood said police also discovered a digital scale, a crack-cocaine pipe, and a vial of unidentified liquid in the bag. 
 
 After news broke of Tracey's find – and his subsequent good deed – Chitwood said police received a couple of calls from people claiming the money was theirs, but they had no proof. Plus, it was unlikely the real owners would come forward, given that the bag contained drug paraphernalia. ||||| You're driving late on a Monday in Upper Darby. You see a leather pouch sitting in the road. You stop, open it, and find $15,200 in crisp bills. 
 
 Do you keep the cash? 
 
 To Bob Tracey, this isn't a hypothetical. 
 
 Tracey, a 61-year-old SEPTA worker, was heading home to Springfield around midnight Monday when he noticed the bag on State Road. 
 
 At first, he thought it was a woman's purse. Maybe a bag someone had perched atop a car and forgotten before driving off. 
 
 But it had a bank name in the corner. And when he unzipped the pouch, Tracey found dozens of $100, $50, and $20 bills. 
 
 For a second, he hesitated. He had just returned from vacation. "I thought, 'Wow, this is going to pay off my vacation,' " he said. "But it's not my way." 
 
 So he called police. 
 
 Mike Chitwood, Upper Darby's police superintendent, thought so highly of the decision, he called a news conference Tuesday to trumpet it. 
 
 "In this day and age, to turn that kind of cash in -," he said. "Truly, truly a Good Samaritan." 
 
 Chitwood said it was unclear where the money came from - though he said no robberies or missing money had been reported. 
 
 He wouldn't say if he thought the cash was criminal proceeds. But a five-figure find in the roadway? "It's always suspect," he said. 
 
 Across social media Tuesday, few disputed Tracey's Good Samaritan designation. 
 
 Some confessed they would have chosen differently. 
 
 "Wish I could say I would have done the same . . . there goes a better man!" said one commenter, dubbed Coner, on Philly.com. 
 
 "Meet the dumbest man in Delaware County," wrote another on Facebook. 
 
 The news led one poster down memory lane. "Y'all remember Joey Coyle???" he wrote. 
 
 In 1981, Coyle, an unemployed longshoreman from South Philadelphia, found $1.2 million after it tumbled from an armored car. 
 
 Coyle kept the cash - and famously became a local folk hero when he began passing $100 bills around his neighborhood, even to casual acquaintances. He was ultimately arrested, tried, and acquitted. Still, he killed himself in 1993, months before the release of a movie about his life story. 
 
 As for Tracey, Chitwood said it's still unclear if he will get a reward for finding and returning the cash. 
 
 "In the world of Mike Chitwood, if nobody claims the money, it should go to him," the police superintendent said. "But in the legal world, I don't know." 
 
 Chitwood said his office is researching policies surrounding such rewards. A spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania State Police said the agency typically does not allow rewards for money turned into police. 
 
 For now, it appears Tracey, who is also a volunteer firefighter for the Springfield Fire Company, may just be running on a little bit of good karma - and widespread praise. 
 
 "SEPTA is proud of the actions taken by Mr. Tracey, who is a valued employee with nearly 37 years of service," the agency said Tuesday. Working as yardmaster there, Tracey said, he's had a long history of returning lost items: wallets, keys, and cash that are often left on railway cars. 
 
 "I'd want someone to do that for me," Tracey said. 
 
 His family, too, was quick to offer words of support. 
 
 "That's the man my dad has been his entire life," daughter Sommer Tracey Kelly, 34, said. "We just got back from vacation, and I swear, the man spent so much of his time offering to take pictures for other families." 
 
 "If he would have found just $20, he would have tried to find the owner," she said. 
 
 At the news conference Tuesday, Tracey said his retirement isn't far off. He glanced at the cash - showcased on the table beside him - and laughed. 
 
 "I was $15,000 richer," he said, "for about a half-hour." 
 
 cmccabe@philly.com 
 
 610-313-8113 
 
 @mccabe_caitlin 
 
 Staff writer Jason Laughlin contributed to this article.
– A suburban Philadelphia transit worker who found $15,000 and turned it in to police has been given the cash. Bob Tracey was driving home from work last March when he spotted a black bag in the middle of the road. When he opened it, he saw dozens of $100 and $20 bills and immediately called police. Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said some people claimed the money was theirs, but they had no proof, the AP reports. He said it was unlikely the real owners would come forward since the bag also contained drug paraphernalia, including a crack pipe. Chitwood says Tracey, 62, should have been allowed to keep the money after the real owner failed to come forward within 90 days, but he ended up having to petition a court under a law dealing with finders of lost property. "The bureaucracy was a nightmare for the guy," Chitwood tells the Philadelphia Inquirer. "He had to jump through a lot of hoops for being honest. Most people would have taken the money and kept on going."