Las Vegas cabbie turns in $221K left in his taxi

A $2,000 tip is huge for any Las Vegas cab driver, but then Adam Woldemarim, a 42-year-old Ethiopian cabbie, did someone a huge favor: He turned in a lost laptop case stuffed with $221,000, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

Woldemarim, who came to the U.S. seven years ago through a government visa lottery, found the cash-stuffed case in the back of his van Sept. 2.

After checking with an Ethiopian pal who had driven the vehicle earlier in the day, Woldemarim decided to take the cash to his cab company's security office.

An hour later, Woldemarim got a call to return to the office, where he got a hug from a grinning 30-year-old who said he won the money at Wynn Las Vegas and had left the case in the cab after going to the airport.

He then gave Woldemarim $2,000.

While friends grumbled that a 10% tip ($20,000) would have been more appropriate, Woldemarim, who works 12 hours a day to take home $350 a week, isn't complaining, the newspaper reports.

Alex "Baharu" Alebachew, 50, a friend of Woldemarim, says a lot of people think foreign cabbies abuse tourists or just cause problems or don't belong in the country.

"They never see the good side to us, the honest side," Alebachew tells Journal-Review reporter Tom Ragan. "If you can just print that, that would be nice."