Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

The Davis Theater Lost Wallet Has An Owner — We Found Ben!

By Patty Wetli | April 28, 2016 12:11pm | Updated on April 28, 2016 4:15pm
 The Davis wants to reunite a long-lost wallet with its rightful owner.
The Davis wants to reunite a long-lost wallet with its rightful owner.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Patty Wetli

LINCOLN SQUARE — The owner of the long-lost wallet recovered at the Davis Theater has been found.

"I am that person," Ben Vaughn responded when DNAinfo reached him by phone Thursday.

Vaughn said he'd been fielding calls all morning from friends and strangers, who'd read about the missing wallet and identified him through the combination of an old driver's license photo plus Twitter and LinkedIn profiles.

"It's the power of social media," he said.

The mystery started with the ongoing $5 million restoration and renovation of the Davis, 4614 N. Lincoln Ave., when the construction team removed the rearmost row of seats in one of the front auditoriums.

The seats, which butted up against a wall, had been impossible to clean behind, creating a black hole where coins, cellphones and apparently one wallet vanished without a trace. 

"It still has a Blockbuster card, that tells you how old this is," said Davis owner Tom Fencl, brandishing the recovered billfold.

The wallet, in pristine condition, also contained a car key, voter ID card and several credit cards. Most importantly, a driver's license, issued in 1996, revealed the owner's identity ... Benjamin Vaughn.

 The Davis wants to reunite a long-lost wallet with its rightful owner.
The Davis wants to reunite a long-lost wallet with its rightful owner.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Patty Wetli

But who was Benjamin Vaughn?

A DNAinfo published a story about the wallet Thursday morning created a social media buzz — a buzz that compounded what's already a crazy time for Vaughn, who is in New Orleans for his bachelor party. 

He said he had to reach "way back in my mind" to recall losing his wallet at the Davis nearly two decades ago.

"It had fallen out once or twice before," Vaughn said of the oversized billfold.

He remembered realizing the wallet was gone and returning to the theater to search for it.

"I felt around for it in the dark," but came up empty-handed, he said.

Once Vaughn, who lives in Roscoe Village, returns from the weekend's revelry, he said he's looking forward to being reunited with his old wallet.

"We have to close this circle and make a happy ending," he said.

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: