Oceano dunes rider returns $20,000 diamond bracelet

April 9, 2013

A retired firefighter from Modesto discovered a $20,000 diamond bracelet while riding his quad at the Oceano Dunes and then worked to return the bracelet to its owner. [ModestoBee]

In June, Orange County resident Robyn Giranda brought her son to the Central Coast to ride on the dunes. Shortly after she finished a ride, she discovered her diamond bracelet was missing.

“What was I thinking wearing an expensive bracelet while riding a quad?” Giranda said to the Modesto Bee. “I was just sick knowing how sand just sucks up stuff.”

After searching the dunes and failing to find her bracelet, Giranda filed a report with a state park ranger and then returned to her Southern California home.

More than six months later, on Presidents Day weekend, retired Modesto firefighter Joe Mingham went to the dunes to ride his own quad and caught a glimpse of a piece of metal in the dunes. He stopped, pulled the bracelet from the sand and stuck it in his pocket.

Back in Modesto, he took the bracelet to a jeweler to have it cleaned and discovered it was worth nearly $20,000.

Mingham than began his detective work by contacting the Pismo Beach Police department. The officer he spoke to told him it was a non-crime issue and he should contact someone with State Parks.

He called State Parks main office in Sacramento and was told to contact ranger Lindsey Phillips in Pismo Beach. Phillips pulled the missing bracelet report and put Mingham in contact with Giranda.

“It’s definitely mine,” Giranda told the Modesto Bee. “Amazing. And it was awesome of Joe — first that he found the needle in the haystack, so to speak, and then that he went to such great lengths to contact somebody. He was referred four or five times before he got to (Phillips).”

Saturday, Giranda drove six hours from Orange County to Modesto to retrieve her bracelet.

“I never thought I’d see it again,” she said. “I cannot believe you found it!”

Giranda offered Mingham a reward which he refused, though he did agree to let her take him to dinner soon in Pismo Beach.

“Good ending,” Mingham said to the Modesto Bee. “Everybody’s happy. The most important thing is that I made a friend.”