Police officer replaces elderly woman's stolen ring

A Florida police officer went above and beyond the call of duty after she met an elderly woman whose engagement ring had been snatched right off her hand in the hospital. Fox News reports, "With little hope of finding the ring, a Florida police officer took the matter into her own hands, replacing it with her own money."

WPLG spoke with Arthur Wagner, whose wife, Betty, has advancing Alzheimer's and is currently being kept sedated in a hospital. "That ring went on there when she was a 20-year-old," says husband Arthur Wagner. He spent $400 on it years ago.

Now, 67 years later, someone grabbed that engagement ring right off Betty's finger. And WOGX says she has the bruises on her finger to prove it. Her wedding band was still intact, though.

Local police sent over Officer Laurie Graber to talk to Arthur about the stolen ring. She says her heart broke when she heard what happened. WOFL says, "She still looked at him like he was her knight in shining armor ... he looked at her like she was still his young bride. I went to JCPenney, and I bought a small ring."

Graber purchased this heart-shaped diamond ring for Betty and went back to the hospital and left it with the nursing staff, leaving behind only a signed note: "It's not much, it's not the same. But 67 years of a promise kept should be recognized."

Graber says she purchased the ring because it was right thing to do, not because she wanted any attention. Police are still searching for Betty's missing ring, which is now valued at around $4,500 in today's economy.

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