A Walmart employee has been applauded for his honesty after finding $4,400 worth of cash in the parking lot and handing it over to authorities, who returned it to its relieved owner. Brian Cassidy was picking up trash outside the store in Bangor, Maine on Thursday when he discovered the wet stack of money beneath a large piece of paper in the parking lot. He immediately contacted store security to tell them what he had found and, realizing it was a sizable sum, they then contacted the police department, Sergeant Tim Cotton said. Officer Dustin Dow went to the store to take the report and learned that a man had visited the security office last winter to claim he had lost about $4,000 in the parking lot. Great work: Brian Cassidy, right, is pictured being presented with a Bangor Police Department Challenge coin by an officer after he found $4,400 cash in a Walmart parking lot and alerted security . The man, who was later identified as Ou Chen, said at the time that he had put the money in an envelope in his pocket after leaving work at a nearby restaurant. He had intended to send the money home to his family, Cotton said. But after clearing snow off his car and driving home, he realized that his pocket was empty. Chen went to the security office to ask if the money had been turned in or if surveillance footage had revealed what could have happened to it, but nothing emerged. When Dow heard of the story, he went to the nearby restaurant, Kobe Steakhouse, and asked for the man, and Chen confirmed he had misplaced the cash. After counting the money at the station, the officer returned to the restaurant to give it back to him - and to take a picture showing him gladly accepting it. Returned: The money belonged to Ou Chen, who lost the $4,000 as he cleared snow off his car last winter after leaving his job at a nearby restaurant. He told Walmart about it at the time but they could not find it . Stash: Cassidy found the money, pictured, while picking up trash near the Walmart parking lot last Thursday . Cotton applauded Brian for his honesty, particularly because the Walmart employee found the money while working at a job that does not pay much. 'Brian is not getting rich doing this and has dealt with other issues over the past year,' Cotton explained in a lengthy Facebook post. 'Brian, like many people, has even had to sleep in his car for a time when things were rough.' In recognition of his honesty, Cassidy was presented with a Bangor Police Department Challenge coin 'for being honest and having great integrity in doing his job', the department said. 'Brian Cassidy personifies what we hope is in all of us,' Cotton wrote. 'Thanks Brian, the men and women of the Bangor Police Department salute you.' Scene: Cassidy, who works at this Walmart in Bangor, Maine, was thanked for his honesty and integrity .
Brian Cassidy was picking up trash from the parking lot of the Bangor, Maine store last Thursday when he found the wet stack of cash . He immediately contacted security and police were called . They discovered that a man who worked at a nearby restaurant, Ou Chen, had reported losing the money while cleaning snow off his car last winter . Police returned the cash to Chen and thanked Cassidy for his integrity by awarding him a police deparment coin .