Texas Plumber Who Found Cash In Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church Wall Gets Rewarded

A Texas plumber who found stacks of cash and checks inside a wall at preacher Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church has been rewarded $20,000 for being a good Samaritan.

According to the Houston Police Department, the money is said to be connected to the theft of approximately $600,000 from the church that happened in 2014, reported CNN.

On Tuesday, Crime Stoppers of Houston announced that it would "gift" money to the plumber, Justin.

The church said in a statement Tuesday that five years ago, it made a $20,000 donation to Crime Stoppers of Houston to help them in solving the case and "support them for all they do for the community. We are appreciative of the plumber, and we hope he pays the gift forward."

The case had remained unsolved until Justin, whose surname hasn’t been revealed, discovered about 500 envelopes in November while fixing a toilet in the church.

Crime Stoppers of Houston CEO Rania Mankarious said that they don't give rewards for helping in finding stolen property, but the organization's executive committee agreed the plumber should have the reward from the church. Mankarious added that what they did was passing a gift on because Justin is the "rightful holder of that gift, and he's a good Samaritan."

On Nov. 10, cops were called to investigate but news of the discovery was not made public until last week when Justin called a radio station and narrated the story. He called back Monday and gave more details about finding the money. Justin told "The Morning Bullpen" hosts that the envelopes didn't fall out in front of him, but they fell in the wall, and he could "hear the commotion in the wall." He said that he shone his flashlight in there, and he could see statements, dollar bills and "random stuff in there."

Before he was rewarded, he said that he wanted to hear "Osteen say, ‘What you did was right. We understand what you did and what you could have done.'" He said that he listened closely to Sunday’s service, hoping the preacher would address his good deed, but the pastor didn’t mention the incident, according to click2houston.com. He felt like he should have heard something, and he was just a "little upset.”