Ginny Hopkins, a waitress who has worked for nearly two decades at a Cleveland restaurant, received a tax refund check for $434,712 in the mail from the Internal Revenue Service instead of the $754 she had been expecting.
Hopkins heard mixed advice on whether or not to keep the money. But she decided to bring the check to the local IRS office, reasoning she would be arrested if she tried to cash it. “They’ll put me in Alcatraz, waiting on the night shift in Alcatraz,” she told
An IRS employee apologized, promising to investigate how the mistake happened, and to get another refund check sent to her quickly. Hopkins had been waiting expectantly for the $754 refund check to arrive as she needed the money for car repairs and other expenses. Her friends at the restaurant where she works, Johnny's Downtown, and WKYC-TV have lent her the needed funds in the meantime.
