The Hitches of Madison County

Everyone has fantasized about what they would do when the bank put a huge pile o' money into their account, but only a no-account person would SPEND the money, knowing all along it was ill-gotten gains.  

But down in Hull, Madison County, GA, Steven Fields, 18, has a bank account in the same bank as former neighbor Steven Fields (no relation).  The other Fields is 70, and recently sold some land for $30,000, which he took right to the bank, and the bank teller, instead of putting it in the older man's checking account, dumped the whole thing into the teenager's funds.

And so young Fields  a) promptly told the bank that a mistake had been made, and basked in the knowledge that honesty is its own reward   or   b) ran right out and bought himself $30,000 worth of stuff, including a BMW automobile.

Pencils down.  The correct, if sad, answer is b.  And when it was all sorted out, the bank teller lost her job, and young Fields was given 10 years of probation and has been ordered to pay the money back.  "The boy said he was sorry. That's about all he said,” said victim Fields, who added that he was most sorry for the fact that his friend, the former teller, had to be fired over all this.

Former BMW owner

The younger Fields was raised by a woman named Stacey Sorrow, who told the local TV station, "I told that woman up at the bank she should have looked over her mistake that she made if she knew there were three people up there with the same name. He (teen) was excited. I would have been too," she adds, recalling the moment the teen discovered the funds in his account.

So he was raised to deflect blame, and not take responsibility.

Since all this happened, young Fields has been arrested on drug possession charges.

I'm sure that was someone else's fault, too.