Posted on Fri, Dec. 23, 2005
Shopper returns clerk's lost ring
CUSTOMER TO GIVE REWARD TO CHARITY
By Kimra McPherson
Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/13472786.htmWanda Estrada's diamond ring spent almost a week at the bottom of a paper bag. Now it's back where it belongs: on her finger. A San Jose woman returned the ring Thursday afternoon to the See's Candies store in Saratoga, surprising Estrada with the three-diamond band she'd feared was gone for good. ``I'm on cloud nine now,'' Estrada said. ``I'm going to be smiling all day.''
Thea Sawyer said she was buying Christmas gifts at See's last Friday, the same day Estrada noticed the ring had slipped off her finger. Estrada was sure it somehow dropped into a bag of candy she filled during the holiday rush.
It had actually fallen into the paper bag Estrada had given Sawyer to carry a gift basket out of the Prospect Road store. When Sawyer took the basket out of the bag Wednesday, she spotted the ring underneath. `I just by accident looked in the bag,'' Sawyer said. ``It was a lucky break.''
The story of the search for the ring had garnered national attention, and a jeweler, Helzberg Diamonds, had offered a $2,500 ring for anyone who came forward with Estrada's missing band. But Sawyer said she doesn't care about the reward, but would accept it if she could donate it to charity. She's just happy she saw Estrada's ring before the bag went in the trash.
Wanda Estrada calls her daughter, Lori Estrada-Kim, to tell her someone returned the ring she lost earlier this week. Estrada lost the ring when it apparently slipped into a customer's bag at the See's candy store where she works in Saratoga.:toast: