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nor did he exchange the currency for higher denominations.
Petitioner further stated that the cash smelled "old" to him when
he opened the canister, "like old books or documents".
Petitioner claimed that when he got the canister home, he put it
on the top shelf of his bedroom closet underneath several other
items, which he considered to be the "safest place" for the
cash.
Petitioner said that he kept the canister in his closet
throughout high school. After high school, he claimed to have
kept the canister in his closet while he commuted to St.
Catherine's. While at Eastern, he purportedly kept the cash in a
closet in his dormitory, even on those occasions when he returned
home. Petitioner claimed that it never bothered him to leave the
money in the dormitory.
Petitioner said that he moved the canister from Maple Street
to Columbia Court, and again to Howell Street, and that he left
it in his bedroom at these residences every time he took a trip.
Petitioner said that he did not put the cash in a bank because he
"just decided to keep doing the same thing with it that * * *
[his great-grandfather] had done with it." He testified that it
did not bother him at the time that he was not earning interest
on the money.
Petitioner testified that he did not keep any record of the
amount of money he spent out of the canister, and that he never
knew the total amount of money that it contained. In that
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