Finders keepers, losers weepers?...
May 30, 2006
PERSONS who pocket lost property can be fined up to $1 million or imprisoned for up to four years, according to the police. If caught, those who attempt to keep lost property can be charged with larceny by finding and may or may not be fined or imprisoned, entirely at the discretion of the presiding judge.
The police named the actions of 30 year-old customs officer, Ahward Sterling, as the perfect example of how the public should try to handle such situations. Days before Christmas last year Sterling found $1.3 million in cash and cheques in an envelope outside the parking lot of BNS' Scotia Centre, Port Royal Street, Downtown, Kingston.
Sterling called a number which was on the envelope but got a constant busy signal. Still he kept trying until someone answered. A few hours later Sterling returned the money to Glen Bromfield, proprietor of the Medallion Hall Hotel, to whom the money belonged.
Sterling drew even more adulation when he turned down a $100,000 reward from Bromfield, saying that he had done the honest thing and did not need to be rewarded. Bromfield himself revealed this astonishing fact at the 2005/06 Public Sector Customer Service Competition awards ceremony...
Author: Vaughn Davis
Source: Jamaica Observer
