When Dave Talley, a Tempe homeless man, found a backpack this month at the light-rail station near Rural Road and University Drive, his first thought was to look through the bag for the owner's identification or contact information. Instead, he found an envelope containing about $3,300 in cash.

The temptation to keep the money was almost overwhelming, he said. Then, his conscience kicked in.

"The reality set in that it wasn't my money and it needed to be turned over," he said.

There are countless things a man like Talley could have done with the money. A recovering drug addict, Talley lives in a system of shelters run by the Tempe Community Action Agency. He's trying to get back on his feet, juggling volunteering at the agency with part-time work.

That weekend, his bicycle - his only mode of transportation - needed to be fixed, a major expense.

"I could've done a lot of things with the money," he said, "but none of them would've been right."

Talley called TCAA employee Sam Sumner, who told him to bring it to the agency's offices - they'd get in contact with the police and look through the bag for clues about its owner.

The bag contained no wallet or ID, but later that week, Sumner found a small flash drive containing theresume of ASU student Bryan Belanger, the bag's owner.

"It's humbling, and it puts things into perspective," Belanger said of Talley's decision. "From his point of view, he could've taken care of himself by paying for rent or something with that money."

It was a stroke of luck for Belanger. He'd wrecked his car in an accident last month and needed money for a new one. He took out the money after finding a few possible listings on Craigslist.

Luckily, the office where he works part time is in Mesa, close to the light-rail line. On the morning he lost the money, he was waiting for the train to arrive. He set his bag down on an adjacent seat. It was early, the station was deserted and Belanger took out his phone to fight off boredom.

"I had my bike with me, and I was using my phone, so my hands were full," he said. "I didn't even see (the bag) when I got up."

Belanger reported the missing bag to the police, but the outlook for finding it wasn't promising. He was told surveillance footage showed two people taking the bag from the station, but the footage wasn't clear enough to provide any leads.

A few days later, he got the call from Sumner. When he went to TCAA to pick it up, he found, as he said, "not a dollar was missing."