Girl's prosthetic legs stolen for second time

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Girl's prosthetic legs stolen for second time

Posted: 2/18/2006 10:13:44 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - For the second time in three months, a 16-year-old California girl who lost a leg in an accident has had her artificial limbs stolen.

Melissa Huff, an Arcadia High School student who uses a $16,000 prosthetic limb to play softball for the school team and another one, valued at $12,000, for everyday use, said both were taken from her bedroom Tuesday.

"I was picking up my little brother from school when my mom called me and asked where I left the two prosthetic legs," Huff, who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Temple City, told Reuters in an interview.

"I knew right then that it had happened again."

Lisa Huff, her mother, said she came home around midday on Tuesday and found the room shared by Melissa and her older sister a mess. Only the prosthetic limbs were missing.

Police say they were talking to the girl's friends, neighbors and relatives for information about the missing legs.

In November, thieves broke into the Huff residence and took just her prosthetic limb. After that incident, Melissa's prosthetist and a local real estate company donated about $16,000 for a new limb.

The stolen limb was discovered in the teenager's backyard about a month ago, apparently thrown there by the thieves.

Melissa lost her real leg two years ago when a driver accidentally ran into her as she stood in front of her middle school.

She said she intends to get back on the field this week and just practice throwing until she gets another prosthetic limb.

That's just plain sad. I hope they find whomever it is that's doing this and give them a mob style talking to.

Posted: 2/18/2006 10:26:54 PM EDT

[#1]

Horrible.

Posted: 2/18/2006 10:36:25 PM EDT

[#2]

Posted: 2/18/2006 10:39:00 PM EDT

[#3]

Wow. Thats really, really low. I mean seriously. Wow. Thats worse than ripping off old people for their SS checks.

-K

Posted: 2/18/2006 10:41:27 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
Wow. Thats really, really low. I mean seriously. Wow. Thats worse than ripping off old people for their SS checks.

-K

If they get stolen two more times I BET its a spider!!! evil creatures!!!

Seriously though.. WTF is wrong with people and WHY would they steal them in the FIRST place. I heard this on the radio last week... DISGUSTING!!

Posted: 2/18/2006 10:54:49 PM EDT

[#5]

im a strong believer in the idea of... "a leg for a leg"

when they find the people, may they be beaten with a prostetic leg. for ..... sakes people. i cant even think of what they would do over in Iran for catching people in the act of stealing prostetic legs, since theyll cut your hand off for stealing a loaf of bread. im sure here in the U.S.ofA. we'll give these people a hefty slap on the wrist considering the cost of the prostetic legs. at least they didnt drug her and put her in a tub of ice after removing her kidneys to sell on the black market. this is still just as messed up

Posted: 2/18/2006 10:57:58 PM EDT

[#6]

You need to look no further than an ex-boyfriend or similar idiot. Teenagers can be real animals at times.

Posted: 2/19/2006 3:25:18 AM EDT

[#7]

Assh@les!

Posted: 2/19/2006 3:53:43 AM EDT

[#8]

Sounds pretty fishy.

Why would you leave you legs? Don't you need them?

Stolen twice? Sounds like her friends are stealing them to resell for drug money.

We had a neighbor girl that would let/help her friends rob her own house.

Posted: 2/19/2006 4:31:22 AM EDT

[#9]

Heard they caught the guy but when they went to prosecute they couldnt because they didnt have a leg to stand on

Posted: 2/19/2006 5:28:52 AM EDT

[#10]

Homeowners insurance cover this kind of thing? I mean if it happened once, I'd be getting a policy rider or calling Lloyds for a seperate policy.

Posted: 2/19/2006 5:42:18 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Sounds pretty fishy.

Why would you leave you legs? Don't you need them?

Stolen twice? Sounds like her friends are stealing them to resell for drug money.

We had a neighbor girl that would let/help her friends rob her own house.

+1

Posted: 2/19/2006 5:45:25 AM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Sounds pretty fishy.
Why would you leave you legs? Don't you need them?
Stolen twice? Sounds like her friends are stealing them to resell for drug money.
We had a neighbor girl that would let/help her friends rob her own house.

+1 Why would you take it off, unless you are asleep next to it?
What would you do with it if you stole it? There can't be that big of a group of people buying prosthetic legs.

Posted: 2/19/2006 6:45:00 AM EDT

[#13]

Melissa Huff, an Arcadia High School student who uses a $16,000 prosthetic limb to play softball for the school team and another one, valued at $12,000, for everyday use, said both were taken from her bedroom Tuesday.

Sounds like she has a high-performace leg for sports and a standard one which is more comfortable or natural looking for everyday use and that while she's wearing one they've taken the other. I agree that it's something personal, why steal a custom made leg otherwise?

Posted: 2/19/2006 6:45:49 AM EDT

[#14]

She got off on the wrong foot!

Posted: 2/19/2006 6:52:05 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
She got off on the wrong foot!

Yeah, and a new one is gonna cost her an arm and a uhhhhhhhh... ummmm... hmmmm...

Posted: 2/19/2006 6:54:43 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
Melissa Huff, an Arcadia High School student who uses a $16,000 prosthetic limb to play softball for the school team and another one, valued at $12,000, for everyday use, said both were taken from her bedroom Tuesday.

Sounds like she has a high-performace leg for sports and a standard one which is more comfortable or natural looking for everyday use and that while she's wearing one they've taken the other. I agree that it's something personal, why steal a custom made leg otherwise?

I'd agree with you if it were not for the sentence ending with, "both (legs) were taken from her bedroom."

As to why they stole it

It's probably made of titanium and carbon fiber and it would make a MaD TyTe accessory on a honda civic Yo!.

Posted: 2/19/2006 6:57:11 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Quoted:
She got off on the wrong foot!

Yeah, and a new one is gonna cost her an arm and a uhhhhhhhh... ummmm... hmmmm...

Cured her restless leg syndrome

Posted: 2/19/2006 7:00:10 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
Cured her restless leg syndrome

Ohhhhhh, ba dum dum! Just remember folks the 9 o'clock show is different from the 7 o'clock show!

Posted: 2/19/2006 7:00:16 AM EDT

[#19]

Posted: 2/19/2006 7:01:11 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
Heard they caught the guy but when they went to prosecute they couldnt because they didnt have a leg to stand on

Posted: 2/19/2006 7:05:51 AM EDT

[#21]

I knew a guy who had a prosthetic leg; if he was driving somewhere (which it says she was in the article), he always left his prosthesis behind and went around on crutches since he couldn't fit in the car with his leg on. Only if he planned on being out of the house all day and had someone else drive did he wear his leg, and then he sat in the backseat so he could have enough space for it. They're not as flexible as the real thing, you know.

If the first leg that got stolen was later found in the backyard, and it's only the legs being stolen, my bet is that it's some assholes from her school who think they're funny. I can't think of a more approriate time for the old "rip his arm off and beat him with it" bit than this.

Edit: Stupid typo.

Posted: 2/19/2006 7:15:26 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Sounds pretty fishy.
Why would you leave you legs? Don't you need them?
Stolen twice? Sounds like her friends are stealing them to resell for drug money.
We had a neighbor girl that would let/help her friends rob her own house.

+1 Why would you take it off, unless you are asleep next to it?
What would you do with it if you stole it? There can't be that big of a group of people buying prosthetic legs.

According to another article she had surgery on her amputated leg a few weeks ago to repair the bone. She probably couldn't use either prosthetic leg yet.

How could you sell it? It's custom designed, molded and fitted to fit the amputee. It is probably some douche bag high school idiot that has it in for her for some reason.