Krystal J. Carman
Monday, Feb. 8, 2010 — When Nick Benjamin graduated from Jay High School in 1994, he did it without his class ring.
For the past 16 years, Benjamin has wondered what ever happened to that ring that he gave to an old girlfriend.
“I didn’t know where it went,” he said. “I haven’t seen it for 11 years. And look, it still fits.”
The missing ring was found by Jim Rush, evidence officer with the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office.
“I was going through a bunch of jewelry we had in the evidence room, some had been there for a long time,” Rush said. “The ring was in that jewelry. I called Jay High School and they didn’t know much about him. So I found him by searching Web sites.”
As far as officials can tell, the ring had no ties to any case filed in Rogers County.
“We don’t have any idea how it ended up in the evidence room,” Administrative Deputy Johnny O’Mara said. “We couldn’t find a case number or any information that would tell us why the ring was in there.”
Rush was determined to find the owner of the class ring and after eight months of searching, he placed a phone call to Benjamin’s residence.
“When I called, (Benjamin’s) wife answered the phone and said her husband had given it to his girlfriend then and ‘I want it,’” Rush said.
On Thursday afternoon, Benjamin got his ring back and wore it with a smile as he left the sheriff’s office.
