Nearly $5M in jewels mistakenly tossed in the trash

After workers mistakenly left $5 million in jewels for trash collection, a Manhattan security guard has now been charged with retrieving the jewels after they were accidentally discarded.

Employees at J. Birnbach Inc.’s Fifth Avenue store thought three wooden boxes containing jewels were meant for trash collection, ABC reported, so they left the boxes with the outgoing garbage. Surveillance video, though, reportedly shows 47-year-old security guard Wilfred Martinez going through boxes in the hallway.

Martinez had apparently found the boxes during his patrol of the third floor and allegedly looked inside, discovering millions of dollars worth ofjewelry, including one diamond worth$3.2 million alone, the Daily Mail stated in a related report.

Authorities say that Martinez sold some of the diamonds to another jeweler in the same building, the Daily Mail added. When Martinez was arrested on Monday, police found the $3.2 milion rock, two smaller diamonds and around $10,000 in cash.

Martinez allegedly sold $74,000 worth of stones that are currently being tracked down, ABC stated.

Martinez has been charged with criminal possession of stolen property, according to the Daily Mail. His bail was set at $100,000 at his arraignment on Tuesday in Manhattan Criminal Court.