‘Right thing to do’: Restaurant owner returns $12,000 found in cabinet to previous owner

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF/Gray News) - The owner of a Thai restaurant in South Carolina says he has returned money that he came across to its rightful owner.

Sak Yiengjuntuek, the owner of Lemongrass Thai Restaurant, bought the restaurant in April 2025.

According to Yiengjuntuek, he was moving a cabinet while cleaning up at the restaurant following a closure of several months due to a fire that broke out at the Wholesale Furniture Gallery next door, which knocked out electricity to the business.

While cleaning, he said he ended up going through the cabinet, and that’s where he discovered cash hidden inside a sunglasses case.

“It was a shock to me that I found old money in the cabinet in the back of my restaurant,” Yiengjuntuek said. “The cabinet was owned by the previous owner.”

The Thai restaurant owner says a total of $12,000 was located inside the cabinet.

“That’s a lot of money. I mean, I thought it was just sunglasses in there; I was shocked,” Yiengjuntuek said. “The first thing I thought was that I need to find the rightful owner.”

Yiengjuntuek said he was taught to do the right thing.

“I feel like this was the right thing to do. You know, it doesn’t belong to you; you need to return it to someone else to whom it belongs,” Yiengjuntuek said. “Honesty, integrity, is very important in life.”

The number Yiengjuntuek had for the previous owner was disconnected. However, he remembered he might have saved it under a different name and tried again. The call went through.

The former owner answered and said he has been dealing with serious health issues. He told Yiengjuntuek that getting the money back couldn’t have come at a better time.