Exclusive: Canadian Man's Wedding Ring Recovered By Lauderdale Cleanup Diver
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Lou Nelson has found a lot of odd and interesting things while diving the past 30 years.
"An old wine bottle, a flask, there's lots of interesting things you can find down there," Nelson told CBS4's Oralia Ortega.
But while volunteering as a diver for the "SOS Ocean Clean Up" as part of Earth Day, Nelson not only found something unusual but something very sentimental to a man who lives 1,500 miles away – near Toronto, Canada.
"I'm told it's a size 13 men's white gold ring," said Nelson.
CLICK HERE To Oralia Ortega's Report
Michael Sonsogno, the owner of the ring who'd been desperately looking for it, left his phone number with pier management and event organizer Lisa Miceli-Capano.
"He said, 'I know there's a pier cleanup. If anyone does happen to find the ring, here's my number.' So that's how we got in connection with him," said Miceli-Capano.
After Nelson found the ring, Miceli-Capano immediately contacted Sonsogno.
Sonsogno had been visiting his parents who live in South Florida in January when he lost the 24 karat two-tone ring at Anglins Pier after a morning out fishing.
"As I was washing my hands, my ring came up off my finger, rolled across the pier and fell across one of the cracks and I tried to get it and I watched it go in the ocean," said Sonsogno.
Sonsogno even spent $600 sending divers to look for the ring and would call pier management on a regular basis to find out if anyone had found it
He'd lost hope until the phone call he received.
"I saw the caller ID on my phone said Fort Lauderdale and I never expected my ring to come back. It was a very emotional phone conversation with Lisa," said Sonsogno.
Miceli-Capano thrilled to know her good deed for Earth Day turned into so much more.
"I'm very spiritual and for some reason, all three of us are connected," said Miceli-Capano. "We're all strangers that came together and it's such a beautiful story. This was a perfect end to a pier cleanup on earth day."
Miceli-Capano said she plans to FedEx the ring back to Canada come Monday and she said she can't wait to see a picture of the man wearing it.