Walmart Employee's Honesty Reunites Ring with Owner

DANBURY, Conn. (AP)  -- Heather Moran, of Bethel, wants everyone to know there are still good, honest people in this world.

People like Britta Wasloff, a retired legal secretary and part-time employee at Walmart, who found and returned the two-carat heirloom engagement ring Moran lost on Oct. 20.

Moran, a 35-year-old mother of three, had been running errands all day. She took one of her sons to a doctor's appointment, shopped for children's clothes and Halloween supplies, then picked up her 4-year-old daughter at her mother's house in Ridgefield.

It was then Moran realized the ring her husband, Jon, gave her 11 years ago was no longer on her finger.

``I ransacked my car, I retraced every step and went to all the stores where I'd been. I left my name and telephone number. Everybody was so nice, but nobody had it,'' she said.

When she got home, Moran searched the house, repeatedly, but still there was no ring. She left her contact information at the police department, in the event someone found the ring and turned it in.

She called back the stores where she'd been. She placed an advertisement on the Web site Craigslist. And eventually, she began checking pawn shops, in case the finder decided to sell the ring for quick cash.

"It had a lot of sentimental value,'' Moran said. Her mother gave her the pear-shaped diamond, and when she and her husband were engaged, he had it made into a ring with three smaller stones around it.

Moran said she'd lost weight recently, so the ring didn't fit as snugly as it once had. "It was insured, but that was for fire and theft, not for losing it.''

She was thrilled beyond words this week when security personnel at Walmart on Newtown Road called with the news that an employee had found the ring.

Wasloff, 68, of Danbury, who works part time in the men's department, spotted it "just lying on the floor'' early last week while folding merchandise on a table.

"I asked around, but nobody knew anything. So I took it home, but I knew it had to belong to someone who would miss it,'' Wasloff said.

On Tuesday, a week to the day after Moran lost the ring, Wasloff was in Walmart and reported the find to a security guard.

He immediately called Moran, and she was at the store in minutes. Together they found Wasloff, who was still shopping.

Moran wanted to give Wasloff a reward, but learned it was against company policy.

"They told me to write a letter to the store, and I've already done that. But I want to let everybody know what she did,'' Moran said.

Wasloff said it felt good to be thanked.

"She gave me a big hug. I actually had tears in my eyes to see someone so appreciative.''