'My Lucky Day': Sanitation Workers Help Woman Find Lost Wedding Rings

BABYLON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A messy search through a town dump turned up a Long Island woman's lost treasure: her wedding rings.

As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported, this was the second ring that was recently found at the recycling center.

"They were missing. I have no recollection of taking them off," said Vicky Salzone, of West Babylon.

She panicked after packing away Christmas decorations and realizing her three diamond wedding rings were gone.

"It was horrible, because I knew that they were irreplaceable," she said.

Her husband of 34 years had a hunch and frantically called the Babylon town dump and begged workers to stop their garbage truck.

"They said, 'we identified the truck, we know where it is, you need to go to the yard now,'" said husband Joe Salzone.

Babylon town recycling center managers Ed Wiggins and John Bonavita said, "here we go again!"

"I said, 'you know, what's the odds of us really doing this two times in a row?'" Wiggins said.

Just two months ago, the workers plucked a diamond from the muck when another woman accidentally tossed her wedding rings into the trash.

"It's not fun," Wiggins said. "It was pretty gross."

But now, they have a system.

"The driver said, 'I know where your garbage is, it's three quarters into the truck,'" Joe said.

Soon he zeroed in on the garbage bags. In under a half hour, another eureka moment.

"You found the rings?" Vicky yelled into the phone.

"I found the rings, yes I got all three of them," Bonavita answered.

"I said Friday the 13th is my lucky day now," Vicky told Gusoff.

They are so good at this now, coworkers have nicknamed their bosses "Lord of the Rings." Both men said helping residents is well worth it.

"It wasn't the monetary value, you could tell with them," Wiggins said. "They wanted the rings that were bless by the priest who married them."

The men said they're happy to help, but asked people to please keep their treasured possessions out of the trash.

Even though this happened twice in the last two months, workers said it's very unusual. They've only had success finding lost jewelry four times in the last 40 years.