Security guard mocked for returning lost money - But insists that he has no regrets

While he is being lauded by his peers for his honesty, Edgar Mussington, a security officer employed to Allied Protection Limited, said he is being bashed by some persons for handing over a stack of cash that he found in an ATM late last year.

"I have been battered about it. Persons are saying that I am an idiot because I gave back the money. It reached the point where me and some people don't really speak any more because I don't think they should be calling me idiot," he said. Despite this, Mussington said he has no regrets.

"How could I take that money and be comfortable and it don't belong to me? At the time, the $160,000 could have done well for me because I had bills to pay but the money was not mine," he said.

Mussington said he found the cash while he was working at the front gate of The Gleaner Company (Media) Limited on North Street in Kingston on November 22, 2024.

"I was passing by the JN (Jamaica National) machine when I noticed a parcel in the machine with some money staring at me. I went inside and took it out and put it in my desk. It was there for about two hours and I was telling myself that someone was gonna come and get it but no one came," he said.

The security officer said he then informed his supervisor of his find and handed over the money to her.

"We checked it about three times and it was $160,000. The envelope had a few numbers on it and we called and the person was saying that they did not know where they lost the money. Country him come from too eno, so it took him about three hours to return. The first ting him say to mi is that him don't have a dollar to give me and I told him that it wasn't important," he said.

"Yuh know when someone has a load on them head and take it off? That was the expression that I saw on him and I was happy to know that I could help him. It was someone that gave him the money to lodge because a Scotia card was in the package. So it seems like he had gone into the machine and realise that he couldn't do the deposit and just rest down the bag and do his ting and forget to take it up," Mussington added.

The security officer was lauded by his superior, in writing, for his honesty. He also told THE STAR that although he was not rewarded directly for returning the cash, things have taken a favourable turn in his life.

"I can't spend more than what I earn, and honesty is the best policy. I gave back the money but things work out in my favour after that. Persons have given me things and so on. I don't regret giving the money to the person who lost it," Mussington said.