Jackson County sheriff loses a wallet, then gains a new friend

Losing a wallet with identification cards, credit cards, and money can put a person in a panic.

Just ask Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum.

Mangum and her husband on Sunday were headed to a restaurant for dinner when she looked for her wallet and it was gone.

“I was sick to my stomach,” she said.

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The sheriff tried to remember her trail that morning, which included the Waffle House, her church, and a meeting with a 4-H Club. She called a lieutenant deputy to look in her office, then at 8 p.m. that evening she visited the office to search herself.

She began cancelling credit cards, but was mostly concerned for her driver’s license and Social Security card.

Then she remembered a visit to Walgreens. She called, but the employee on duty didn’t know of any wallets found in the store. But the lieutenant went to Walgreens and viewed the surveillance video. A young employee found the wallet and secured it in a counter near the register.

“About 9:30 my lieutenant called, and he said, ‘I got it.’ I bet I told him 100 times how much I loved him,” she said.

The next day she visited Walgreens to thank the employee, Allie Love, for finding and securing the wallet.

Allie, who is a Commerce High School student, and the sheriff embraced for a photo to post on Facebook.

"It was meant for me to leave that wallet because it brought me to this young lady. I won't say why, but God knows and this was a God thing," Mangum said on Facebook after posting the photo.

“She was so honest,” Mangum said. “You want to think everybody is honest, but everybody is not. She’s just a precious girl.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum felt 'sick' when wallet was lost