OT: Minnesota ATM snafu

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Minnesota man hits jackpot at local ATM

FRIDLEY, Minnesota (AP) -- Keith Obraske just needed a few bucks for soda and cigarettes. He got that, and then some.

On his way to work Wednesday, Obraske stopped at an ATM to get $20. He got the $20 -- followed by a whole lot more of them. The machine gave him $5,580.

"I felt like I'd won the lottery," said Obraske, 23, who works as a ceiling sprayer. "I just kept scooping it up."

Obraske said he thought briefly about what he could do with that much money. But he also thought about the consequences.

"I felt like I was being tested big time," he said.

When he told co-workers about the windfall, he already knew he'd return the money.

Express Teller, a division of TCF Financial Corp., is working with the private group that owns the machine to find a substantial reward for Obraske, said Dan Engel, TCF's senior vice president.

Without his honesty, Engel said, it would have taken hours to figure out the mistake.

Officials said it was only the second time in about nine years that an Express Teller had become so recklessly generous. That customer also returned the money.

-- counting down (the@days.now), November 20, 1999


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