His decision prompted a 15-month investigation into six men, four from Yugoslavia, one from Jordan and one from Turkey, who live in Philadelphia's southern New Jersey suburbs.

Authorities have lauded the clerk as an "unsung hero," a title he rejects.

"I don't feel like a hero," he said. "I feel like I did the right thing."

Although the ordeal, which included questioning by the FBI, felt "like something out of a movie," Morgenstern said the "real heroes" were those who conducted the investigation and our "men and women overseas."

We shouldn't publish pictures of this poor guy- I hope he lives a long happy life.