Gregg Larabel, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 4 of 16

I got a referral from my niece Stephanie, to get a hold of Megan B. about her lost diamond setting off her wedding ring. While Megan was working in her front yard it appeared that her heart shaped diamond with prongs came off her ring while removing her gloves several times. Megan showed me where she was working putting dirt under some garden blocks. There were about three places in the yard where she removed her cloves so I proceeded to search. Prior to arriving at Megan and Jeff’s home I stopped at a friends jewelry store to get a setting to test on my detectors. Fisher F75 DD coil did not detect it, small gold nugget coil did not detect it, Bounty Hunter time Ranger 10 inch coil did not detect it but the Gold nugget coil on the BH did give me a faint signal in the all metal mode. I started a grid search and also used my Orange pin pointer but that would only detect it using the side of the pointer. After scouring the three areas, I asked Jeff for some water and picked his brain as I usually do the detective thing before I start but Megan was gone. I asked him what exactly did Megan do that day the diamond was lost. He said “from the yard she got in the car went to the drive in ice cream stand then home” at that time, Jeff noticed her diamond missing while setting at the kitchen table. I then asked him my list of questions: did you check the gloves? Did you check the car? did you check her clothes, purse etc? I couldn’t grill Megan and didn’t find the diamond after crawling around on my knees for two hours in the front yard in the hot sun so I said goodbye to Jeff and said I will be back Tuesday to continue my search. Woo and behold! I get a call from Megan, “it was in my purse, thank you so much for coming out to help”. Happy days are here again. So it is very important to ask all the detective questions, Who, What, Where and When. I love my job.

After detecting in a nearby lake all day I arrived home to set down for dinner and got a call from Andy K. saying his wife Jessica lost her 3 rings. One ring was from her grandmother and the other 2 was her engagement and wedding ring. They have been married for one month and are from Cincinnati, Ohio attending a wedding in Saugatuck. They took the trolley from the hotel to the beach and when they got to the beach they put their towels and a handbag in a spot on the beach and Jessica placed her rings in the pocket of the swim suit cover she was wearing and placed the cover in the handbag. When they got ready to leave Jessica pulled the cover out of the handbag forgetting she put the rings in the pocket, they grab the trolley back to the hotel and discovered the rings were missing. They hustled back to the beach and ask the ranger if they knew anyone who could help them find Jessica’s rings. I left my card with the ranger and they have called on me over the years. Andy called me and I told him I could be there in 45 minutes.                                   After showing up at the beach I proceeded to do a grid search of the area they were in earlier. I searched a 20 foot grid North and South finding a penny which I handed my scoop to Jessica and she took the penny, I went another 20 feet the other way and got a quarter and handed my scoop to Jessica and she took out the quarter. After several passes with no success I went up and down the path where they entered the beach with no success. I then took an East and West grid search of the same area and after 4 passes I got a faint signal with my Fisher F75 and scooped up a ring with a blue stone. I again handed the scoop to Jessica and she thought it was another penny, when she looked into the scoop she fell to her knees crying “that’s my grandmothers ring”. I then took another scoop and showed it to her and she continued crying “that’s my engagement ring” and then the next scoop was her wedding ring. Jessica could not control herself thanking me and Andy stood there amazed too. This was the end to a very nice day at the beach and a trip to Pure Michigan.                    BTW Jessica, I never did give my $.26 back that I found. 

After traveling through Europe on their honeymoon and enjoying the married life, Steve J. never lost or misplaced his white gold wedding band. This past weekend Steve and his wife Kristi decided to take a weekend drive to the West side of the state from Lansing and swim in the Great Lake of Michigan at Rosy Mound. Somewhere between the beach, water and coming home Steve discovered his ring was missing while washing his hands when he got home. Steve immediately went on line and found The Ring Finders (Tom Townsend). Tom was not available so he referred me to them. After getting their story I told them I would go out the first thing in the morning to search. Steve had pinned the area on Google Maps and sent it to me.

I got out to the park at 6:30 am and immediately packed up for the 3/4 mile trek up and down 500+ steps to the beach. At the time I didn’t know whether his ring was lost in the water, the sand or in his car driving back home. The pin he made for me showed they were swimming, between the last 2 buoys to the South so I started a grid search from shore to the end of the last buoy up to my chest with several passes and only finding a crusty Quarter and a dime. I decided to change my grid from E and W to N and S. The area was at least half a football area. On my last N/S grid I got a hit and there it was. SWEET!

I took some pictures of the ring and the area and text Steve and said “is this your ring?”

Kristi said a little prayer last night that I would find the ring and before all my ring searches I say a prayer: “Lord, guide my eyes and ears, my hands and feet, guide them to the ring I seek, Amen” I’m sure someone was looking over my shoulder and guiding me to that small piece of gold in a very large body of water.

I received a call from Robert H. yesterday, he said he lost his wedding band 3 years ago and wanted to know if I could find it. After getting some information on the lost ring I told him I could be out in the morning. Today, Dave Boyer my Ring Finder partner, and I went out to Robert’s house and got to work. Robert lost his ring while taking a large flat rock out of the pond in about 3 to 5 feet of water. While taking a shower afterwords he noticed the ring was missing. He posted the lost ring on Facebook and got several message to give me a call because I was a Ring Finder.

I put my waders on and started my search from the shore to about 4 feet getting no signals I went back and put my swim suit on so I could go deeper in the water. The first 3 feet of the bottom of the pond was sand, then about 3 inches of black mud and the rest of the bottom was sloppy grey clay. Dave directed me to the left and front of the dock and I got a high pitch signal on my detector unlike a gold signal, but I dug it anyway because that was the only signal I got out there. After a couple scoops of mud and clay I finally got something in my scoop. At the very bottom of my scoop, after squeezing a gallon of soft clay, was his gold wedding band. Needless to say Robert and his wife Marlene were very happy and amazed, that after 3 years, his ring was back on his finger.

Last week during one of the worst snow storms and low temperatures in the state of Michigan, I received a call from Joel C. telling me he lost his 14K gold wedding ring while placing money for his snow plow driver under the blue cap on his LP Gas tank. I told Joel that I could come out and search for his ring the next day although it was -10 degrees and about a foot of snow. Alyssa C., Joel’s wife, explained that he cleared the snow off the gas tank, pushing the snow down towards him, then placing the plow fee under the blue cap (see picture). I set my detector to discriminate out the steel gas tank and proceeded to search in front and behind the tank and around the driveway and snow piles that had been plowed later that night after he lost his ring. After an hour or so of searching I then questioned Alyssa with several probing questions as to whether Joel remembered having the ring on during the day and what took place that evening, I stop the search and said I will be back after the weather warmed up in the following days.  I called a Ringfinder friend, Jon Hamil, from the other side of the state to meet me at their house to help with the search. We both made the 1 1/2 hour trip from opposite sides of the state and began our search in now a snow free area. Jon and I went over the same area as I did before with no success.      After an hour searching outside we went in the house checked the couch, sink drains and garage, still no ring. Going back out to the yard John used a system he developed and discovered the ring on top of the yellow children’s discarded plastic slide (see picture).  I looked on the slide and there was the ring. I was dumbfounded by it’s presents and questioning myself how it landed there in a snow storm. I guess it doesn’t matter because it made Alyssa smile and she gave us each a hug and sighing with relief that the ring was found she immediately called Joel to tell him the good news.

Grand Rapids, Michigan. I got a call yesterday from a fiend, Matt V, I met at a local gas station. He was trying to start his car in this -10 degree temp and it wouldn’t start so he put the key, with a little metal wrench on the ring, in his coat pocket and walked around the car to his shed. When he reached in his pocket to get the key out for the shed, his car key fell somewhere in the snow which he hadn’t realized until he needed them again. His wife reminded him that the guy at the gas station was a Ring Finder and could help find the key. After raking the snow searching for the key he gave me a call and after a short search I found the key by the shed door. 

On my way to work today, I received a call from Josh K. about his wife loosing her heirloom ring (her mom gave it to her years ago). Jayne K. was raking leaves in the front yard and playing with her daughters in the leave piles afterwards. Shortly after they finished raking and playing, Jayne noticed her ring missing. Josh borrowed a metal detector and went over his front yard. Not being familiar with the detector he was unsuccessful. Josh had 11 bags of leaves that he searched one bag at a time with no luck. Josh went to the internet and looked up lost rings, detecting services and found The Ring Finders. He was a little skeptical about someone coming out and searching for a ring but after his call to me and telling him I would be out at 4pm he was very happy I could get there so soon.

My Ring Finder friend, Dave Boyer, and I showed up at their house at 4pm and proceeded to search the front yard. I made about 6 passes in a back and forth grid pattern and on the 6th pass I got a nice signal and saw her gold ring. I told Josh that I gave up and hesitated a bit and said “because I found it”. Josh’s eyes lit up and with a big smile and a bear hug he said “thank you”.  Jayne was not home at the time but I’m sure when she found out her ring was recovered she will have a very nice Thanksgiving.

I received a text today at 3:11 pm from Alan O. telling me Tom Townsend (a Ring Finder) referred me as he was unavailable. Alan’s sister-in-law Stefanie C. was visiting Alan’s parents home on Mona Lake in Norton Shores, Michigan. Stefanie put her ring in Alan’s hat for safe keeping and it fell onto the dock and into the water. They thought it was about 3 feet of water on a sandy but weedy bottom. I texted Alan back right away and told him I could be out there, with my Ring Finder partner Dave Boyer, in about an hour.

When I got to the home we introduced ourselves and got our equipment out and went down to the water. We reached the end of the dock where the ring fell in and it was about chest deep. We searched an area where Alan felt the ring would have went in the water but didn’t get any signals so I searched under the dock because it had perforated holes big enough for a small ring to fall through. I got a good hit on the platinum ring and after 3 scoops there it was. Alan yelled up to the ladies sitting on the deck, “they found it!”

Alan text Stefanie letting her know the ring was recovered and said he will mail it to her. Stefanie lives in Pittsburgh, PA. and will send me a picture of her with the ring for our Book of Smiles.

While I was out searching for a ring today in Grand Haven, MI, I got a call from Ken L. about his wedding ring he lost while playing with his grandchildren in about 4 to 5 feet of water at the 8th avenue Park in Georgetown, MI. Although it was lost over a month ago I thought I would take a chance to see if I could find it before another detector did. I told Ken and his wife Janet that the chance of finding it would be slim and they should prepare themselves to to put in a Craigslist ad when they get home.

After about an hour of doing a grid search from 3 to 5 feet I decided to call it quits but told the couple I would get a hold of one of my club member friends who detects the park often. I messaged Terry Sparks on Facebook and got an immediate response to call him. I put Ken on the call and Terry said yes indeed he found the ring after Ken identified it with the engravings of his and Janet’s initials. After getting an address they were off to pick up the ring. I love the fact that I can depend on other metal detectors in our network to help out when needed.                                                                                                                          Thank you again Terry for your honesty and dependability.

By the way I did not recover the ring in Grand Haven due to lack of visibility in the river, I will be back in September.