Several Brookfield students got the payday of a lifetime when they showed up at school Wednesday. However, it wasn't for the honor roll or good behavior.

A 9-year-old Brookfield Elementary student took $1,000 to school and distributed 10 $100 bills to her fellow classmates.

By Friday afternoon, Brookfield patrolman Jay Hockey, who investigated the case for the department, had recovered all but one of the $100 bills. A student had given it to a teacher, who in turn gave it to the principal.

Another $100 bill was spent by one of the parents of a student who was given the money to pay a bill, but that family made arrangments to pay the student's parents back.

The girl's parents had no idea she took the money from a dresser drawer.

When one child got off the bus to greet her father, she flashed him the money with excitement saying, "Look what I got!"

Her father, who was skeptical, said, "This ain't right," and asked where she had gotten it. She told him it came from a student on the bus, and he drove to stop the bus before it was too late to trace the money. The driver drove to the school bus garage and called the parents to pick up their children. There were 12 children, including the little girl, left on the bus.

Hockey said she gave him the names of classmates to whom she had given money. He went to each of their houses and recovered the bills. The money was circulated on the school bus and at school, and most of the money was recovered in the Masury area.

The parents were relieved to get the money back, Hockey said.

"They had contractors working on their house and they thought the contractors had taken it. Turned out it was their daughter."

This wasn't the first time a student had taken money from their parents, but it's never been quite this much, Hockey said.

Since the 9-year-old is a juvenile, police left it up to the parents to decide whether to file charges, which they declined to do. The parents told police they would handle the situation themselves.

"I don't think she could comprehend how much money was really there," he said.