A St Catherine man who collected a little over $500,000 from a malfunctioning automated teller machine (ATM) is scheduled to return to the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court on May 1 for sentencing.

Donovan Harrison, a 50-year-old machine operator of Cotton Piece district in Ewarton, St Catherine, pleaded guilty to simple larceny when he appeared in court Monday before Senior Magistrate Judith Pusey.

However, before pleading guilty, Harrison dismissed reports that he had refused to pay back the money.

He told the magistrate that, after he took money his boss confronted him about the matter and he had agreed to pay back the money from his salary.

Harrison told the court that he paid over some money to the bank on three -to four occasions, but had stopped in January after he fell ill from appendicitis.

Harrison did not say how much of the money he had repaid, but told the magistrate that he would pay the remainder by month end. As a result his bail was extended for him to return to court with the money.

According to police report, between July and September 2014, Harrison — who is a member of the Jamaica Public Service and Partner Credit Union — went to a ATM machine which is located on the compound of Ewarton Bauxite Plant and made withdrawals from the machine, which gave him more money than to which he was entitled because of a glitch in the system.

The court heard that Harrison collected approximately 517,000 over the period.

— Tanesha Mundle