The customized, wheelchair-accessible van reported stolen in Cherokee County on Monday morning was found when the owner spotted it in the afternoon, authorities said.
The special vehicle, which was taken with a child’s leg braces inside, was parked at the Metro Lodge Hotel just inside Cobb County, Cherokee Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Jay Baker said.
Cobb County police and Cherokee Sheriff’s detectives responded to the scene, and no suspects have been found, he said.
As heartless crimes go, this one ranks near the top.
Brandy Brannon, of Woodstock, contacted authorities to report that the minivan was stolen from her Ridgewood Drive home overnight, Baker said.
Baker said the red 2009 Toyota Sienna van was customized with a wheelchair ramp for the woman’s 12-year-old son, who has spina bifida.
Inside the van were the child’s leg braces, a laptop computer and cash. When the van was recovered, the leg braces and laptop were still there, but the cash was gone, Baker said. The van was not damaged.
Brannon said that without the van, she would have to physically pick her 135-pound son up out of his wheelchair and place him in another vehicle to go anywhere.
“I can still pick him up and carry him, but it’s going to be harder to maneuver,” Brannon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before she located her stolen vehicle.
“It’s hard, but you have to what you have to do,” she said, adding that it is “my prayer” that someone will spot the van and call police.
The vehicle was returned to Brannon and detectives continue to investigate the theft, Baker said.
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