By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — A man who posted an ad on Craigslist claiming he found a briefcase on the Lower East Side with nearly $80,000 in cash acknowledged Tuesday that he wasn't actually a Good Samaritan — he was conducting a "social experiment."
Clarence Chance said he posted the ad on Craigslist Sunday claiming he had found a briefcase containing $78,383 in cash because he was interested in seeing what the responses would be.
“If you can describe the other items inside [the briefcase] I will return,” Chase wrote in a posting to the popular classifieds-style Web site.
“If not I am taking [it] to the Police and after no one claims it I think I can legally own this. It is real hard posting this. But I know it is the right thing to do.”
Chance requested that any respondents write back with descriptions of the briefcase, including its color, how many combinations are on its lock, and the type of bills and other items inside the briefcase.
“My girlfriend is shaking her head and staring at me as I post this,” the person added. “I think it is the right thing to do.”
Chance said a lot more people than he expected replied to the ad. The responses ranged from the deeply interested to the funny.
"It was a random thing and I didn't think it would go too far," he said.
