Wallet With $5K Cash Returned To Owner In Newark Airport

Newark, NJ – Who says that there aren’t any honest people out there?

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Public Affairs spokesperson Lisa Farbstein reported on Tuesday that an agent recently returned a lost wallet containing more than $5,000 in cash to its owner at Newark Liberty International Airport.

According to TSA officials, the wallet – which contained no identification but some credit cards - was left behind at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday morning.

Using one of the credit cards in the wallet, TSA Customer Service Manager Ofelia Ruiz, who oversees the Lost and Found Office in Newark, called one of the credit card companies, explained that TSA had the man’s wallet and asked the credit card company to contact the man and have him call TSA as soon as he landed, authorities stated.

The passenger, a resident of Yates County in upstate New York, was flying to the west coast and was in the process of catching a connecting flight in Denver when he received the call, TSA authorities stated.

When the man called the TSA Lost and Found Office, he confirmed that he had lost his wallet. The man described “in perfect detail” what it looked like and sent a photo of himself to the Newark office, authorities reported.

“To ensure that the wallet and its contents will be reunited with the right person, TSA officials will review the closed circuit TV video of the checkpoint to ensure that the man in the photo is the same man who came through the checkpoint,” authorities stated.

“The cash will be converted into money orders and shipped along with the wallet via overnight mail to the destination of the traveler’s choice - at his expense.”

“I figured he was going to have a heart attack when he reached for his wallet and it wasn’t there. I knew I had to act fast,” Ruiz explained. “He probably took his ID out of his wallet when he came to the checkpoint and didn’t slip it back into his wallet. Travelers should always put their ID right back in their wallets after they show it to the TSA officer. A lot of people actually lose their ID cards at the checkpoint.”

The passenger was so grateful that he reportedly offered to give a cash reward to the TSA officer who turned in the wallet, but the reward was declined because “TSA officers are not permitted to accept gratuities,” according to an agency release.

Photo via the Transportation Security Administration