The wheelchair stolen from 6-year-old cerebral palsy victim Fabian Ramirez recently was returned in pieces, and his mother is angry at the teenagers charged with the crime.
"They don't realize what they've done to my little boy. This wheelchair was his legs, his independence," Yvette Ramirez said Thursday. "They took everything that made him feel like he was a normal person."She said she doesn't know how the family will replace the wheelchair, which cost about $5,000. For now, Fabian is being carried wherever he goes. He cannot walk or talk and has trouble even moving his hands.
"I fought with Medicaid for a year to get the wheelchair," Ramirez said. "Fabian was the first child ever approved for an electric wheelchair in Idaho. They have never had anything like this happen before."
The teenagers who stole the wheelchair from outside the home of Fabian's therapist have been caught. Witnesses saw juveniles steal the chair, which was recovered at one of their homes the next day. But it was dismantled and the seat was sawed off.
Nampa High School resource officer Milt Greenwood said the three have been charged with felony counts of grand theft and vandalism. Greenwood said one boy said they thought the wheelchair was being thrown away.
Ramirez was glad the teens were arrested, but said it does her family little good.
"The kids will get restitution, but that doesn't give me any hope," she said. "They're minors. They have no jobs. They can't replace the wheelchair. I just think it's so unfair."
"They need to know what they did to Fabian," Ramirez said. "I feel like these kids should get community service to the disabled to teach them what these little kids go through. Maybe it would get through their heads and they wouldn't do something like this to anyone else."