Officer replaces elderly woman's engagement ring after theft at hospital Posted: Monday, June 23, 2014 11:03 PM EDT Updated: Monday, August 18, 2014 11:03 PM EDT 
 
 PLANTATION, Fla. (WSVN) -- A police officer made a generous gesture and helped an elderly hospital patient who lost something dear to her in a heartless crime. 
 
 When Arthur Wagner asked Betty to be his bride in the summer of 1946, he said, "She said, 'Yes.' I remember I bought it at Zales jewelry. I paid $400 for it," said Wagner. 
 
 The engagement ring and wedding band was placed on Betty's left finger and has been there for 67 years, until last Saturday when her yellow gold diamond engagement ring went missing. "I came in the morning, and I'm holding her hand, talking to her, and the ring is gone," said Wagner. 
 
 Weak with advancing Alzheimer's, Betty was sedated in a hospital bed at Westside Regional Medical Center in Plantation. "From the bruises on her finger that looked like both rings were pulled off, and the wedding band was put back on," said Wagner. "I just tear up. It was tough." 
 
 Plantation Police sent over officer Laurie Graber to investigate the case. "After 67 years of that ring being on her finger, she still looked at him like he was her knight in shinning armor, and he looked at her like she was still his young bride," said Graber. 
 
 Wagner and Graber felt helpless after Betty's ring was stolen and in the hands of a thief. "I just couldn't imagine what kind of depravity you would have to have to take something off of someone so vulnerable," said Graber. 
 
 Graber felt something needed to be done so, "I went to J.C. Penney, and I bought a small ring, and I took it back to the hospital, and I left a little note." 
 
 "The nurses at the nurse station they come and they said, 'The officer that was here yesterday, she left you this,'" said Wagner. "A promise kept for 67 years is worth something." 
 
 Betty's original engagement ring is gone, but Wagner is still at her bedside along with her new ring. 
 
 Wagner said the new ring has helped ease the pain. 
 
 Plantation Police is checking the hospital's surveillance video to see if they can catch anyone in the act. 
 
 If you have any information on this theft, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward. ||||| A Florida police officer went above and beyond the call of duty after she met an elderly woman whose engagement ring had been snatched right off her hand in the hospital. 
 
 
 
 7 PHOTOS Police officer replaces old woman's stolen ring See Gallery Police officer replaces elderly woman's stolen ring Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE A Florida police officer went above and beyond the call of duty after she met an elderly woman whose engagement ring had been snatched right off her hand in the hospital. Fox News reports, "With little hope of finding the ring, a Florida police officer took the matter into her own hands, replacing it with her own money." 
 
 WPLG spoke with Arthur Wagner, whose wife, Betty, has advancing Alzheimer's and is currently being kept sedated in a hospital. "That ring went on there when she was a 20-year-old," says husband Arthur Wagner. He spent $400 on it years ago. 
 
 Now, 67 years later, someone grabbed that engagement ring right off Betty's finger. And WOGX says she has the bruises on her finger to prove it. Her wedding band was still intact, though. 
 
 Local police sent over Officer Laurie Graber to talk to Arthur about the stolen ring. She says her heart broke when she heard what happened. WOFL says, "She still looked at him like he was her knight in shining armor ... he looked at her like she was still his young bride. I went to JCPenney, and I bought a small ring." 
 
 Graber purchased this heart-shaped diamond ring for Betty and went back to the hospital and left it with the nursing staff, leaving behind only a signed note: "It's not much, it's not the same. But 67 years of a promise kept should be recognized." 
 
 Graber says she purchased the ring because it was right thing to do, not because she wanted any attention. Police are still searching for Betty's missing ring, which is now valued at around $4,500 in today's economy. 
 
 
 
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 Sons cost parents more money in the long run ||||| A Florida police officer last weekend bought a replacement engagement ring from J.C. Penney for an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer's who apparently had hers stolen, WSVN.com reported. 
 
 "I came in the morning, and I'm holding her hand, talking to her, and the ring is gone," Arthur Wagner, the woman's husband, told the police officer. Wagner, who spent $400 on the ring in 1946, said that the ring stayed on his wife's finger for 67 years. 
 
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 Betty Wagner would wear two rings: her wedding ring and engagement ring. Judging by the bruises on her finger, it appears that someone pulled off the two rings, taking the engagement ring and leaving the wedding band. 
 
 Plantation Police Officer Laurie Graber was sent to investigate, and learned the story about the couple's relationship. 
 
 "After 67 years of that ring being on her finger, she still looked at him like he was her knight in shining armor," Graber told WSVN.com. 
 
 She purchased the ring and told the nurses to deliver it. 
 
 "A promise kept for 67 years is worth something," Graber said. Police are investigating the robbery. 
 
 Click for more from WSVN.com
– A classy move by a Florida cop is making headlines: Laurie Graber, an officer in Plantation, got the call for a particularly low-level crime—someone had ripped the engagement ring off the finger of an 87-year-old woman bedridden with Alzheimer's in a hospital, reports Fox News. By the bruises on Betty Wagner's finger, it wasn't an easy job, and no wonder—the ring had been there for 67 years. "I just couldn't imagine what kind of depravity you would have to have to take something off of someone so vulnerable," Graber tells WSVN. Upon leaving the hospital, Graber went to JCPenney and shelled out for a replacement ring with her own money. She brought it back to the nurses' station with a note, reports AOL.com: "It's not much, it's not the same. But 67 years of a promise kept should be recognized." Husband Arthur, who placed the original on his soon-to-be wife's hand in 1946, says the gesture has helped him deal with the theft. (Another Florida officer bought groceries for a mom caught shoplifting.)