Jersey Shore Ring Finder going strong for 10+ years

TOMS RIVER — Ocean County’s Matt St. Germain, known as the Jersey Shore Ring Finder, will go just about anywhere in New Jersey to reconnect people with their beloved possessions. "It's anywhere from the beaches, the people's yards, out in parks. I've gone to wineries to help people,” he said to New Jersey 101.5.

You name it, Matt has found it: wedding rings, watches, keys, cell phones, hearing aids and more. He has been in the professional metal detecting business for over 10 years and has recovered over 230 items.

"What keeps me going the most is my motivation for helping people and a little bit of coffee,” St. Germain said.

To have the most efficient search, he prefers to be given GPS coordinates, pictures of the background to use as landmarks or be told reference points. From there, he could end up spending minutes, hours or even multiple trips to get the item back.

St. Germain is also a member of the group The Ring Finders New Jersey, so if his schedule won’t allow, he can refer one of the other men to the case. If there’s a lot of area to cover, they sometimes will partner together.

They all work on a reward basis, meaning the customer gets to choose what payment is fair. "If we can't find the item, most of the time we only ask for a small fee to help cover some expenses like for gas, tolls, parking,” St Germain said.

His contact information and posts about individual recoveries can be found on his Facebook page.

He asks people to follow this advice if they’re missing anything:

• Don't post about lost items on social media with an exact location — this could allow someone to use their own metal detector
• File a police report (pawn shops have to hold onto an item for 90 days)

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