HAZMAT teams collect messy money from Lake City bank

LAKE CITY, Fla. – Lake City and Gainesville fire department HAZMAT teams retrieved potentially hazardous currency from the bank vault at Columbia Bank on Friday.

The teams entered the bank at 173 NW Hillsboro St. around 3 p.m.

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Earlier in the week, a customer made two separate transactions at Columbia Bank. After each transaction, several bank employees became ill, so bank employees contacted the FBI.

Investigator David Greear located and spoke to the customer, who said the money came out of a storage container that got moist. Since the initial investigation revealed no malicious intent by the customer, the bank was advised to have the currency safely removed by HAZMAT.

The currency was safely removed and transferred to the FBI for delivery to the Department of Treasury and the bank was reopened.