Police in Georgia have launched manhunt for an old man who picked up $30 off grocery store floor

A police department in Georgia has found itself at the center of an online storm after appealing for the public's help identifying a man who picked up $30 someone else had dropped in a Walmart.

The Albany Police Department shared a photo of the unidentified man on social media, saying that he had picked up cash dropped by another shopper inside the store on N. Slappey Blvd and failed to hand it over to staff.

The post asked anyone who recognized him to come forward.

It didn't take long for the appeal to blow up for entirely the wrong reasons, with commenters questioning why officers were dedicating resources to a $30 dispute at all.

According to the department's original post, the incident occurred at the Walmart located at 2586 N. Slappey Blvd, where a customer dropped the dollars while shopping.

Police launched a manhunt for a man who picked $30 up from the floor of a Walmart in Georgia (Fairfax Media via Getty Images via Getty Images)

Another individual is said to have picked the cash up off the floor and left without reporting it to Walmart employees, prompting the store's alleged victim to involve police.

The department's public appeal for information triggered an immediate wave of criticism online, with users questioning whether the situation constituted a crime in the first place.

One person recalled a personal experience of forgetting cashback at a register, saying a store manager had told them it was 'like dropping money on the street' and that there was nothing that could be done about it, before adding they simply 'blessed the person' who found it instead.

Others pointed to the case as evidence of misplaced priorities, while one commenter joked that it was 'the most unintentionally hilarious' example of the relevant Georgia code they'd ever encountered.

Another shared a decades-old family story of finding cash on the floor of a Home Depot near New York City, which staff had refused to accept back, resulting in it being donated to a church collection instead.

The Walmart in question (Google Street View)

Police share update on the case

Despite the scale of the backlash, the case appears to have been resolved without further police action. In a follow-up post, the Albany Police Department confirmed that the man had returned the $30 to the person who lost it.

The update explained that the alleged victim 'initially wished to pursue charges' against the man, but changed their mind once the money was handed back and 'advised that they no longer wished to press charges'.

As a result, the department confirmed no further action would be taken in connection with the incident.

Despite the resolution, the department's original appeal remains widely shared, having drawn heavy engagement from users still debating whether the case should have been publicized at all.

Many argued the appeal was a disproportionate use of police social media, while others defended the department for simply asking for help identifying someone connected to an active report at the time it was filed.