Customized wheelchair returned
Published: April 13, 2007
A Plattsburgh man has his stolen wheelchair back.
Plattsburgh City Police Sgt. Mark Drollette said police Tuesday afternoon found the wheelchair that was stolen from Johnny Jones last Friday, and that it had been returned.
Police arrested Ryan Flint, 25, of Plattsburgh at around 5:30 p.m. He was charged with third-degree grand larceny, a felony.
Drollette said the investigation is continuing and more charges or arrests are possible.
Jones, 25, was born with no muscle growth from the knees down and had his legs amputated at age 3. He uses the customized wheelchair to get to work at Curtis Door Systems and to travel around Plattsburgh.
Friday, Jones parked the wheelchair between two houses on Miller Street while he helped a friend clean up for a move. The wheelchair was missing when he came back outside at around 4 a.m.
After the wheelchair was stolen, Jones reported the theft to City Police. He used a spare wheelchair to go to Staples to print up fliers, then wheeled to Champlain Centre mall and along Route 3 to distribute them.
He also spent a few days searching around the city for the wheelchair.
The spare wheelchair is slightly too wide for his elevator at home and gets in the way at his job with Curtis Door, where he does electrical assembly.
Flint was arraigned before City Court Judge Penelope Clute late Tuesday afternoon, but no information about the results of that arraignment were available Tuesday night.
After running a story about the incident in Tuesday’s paper, the Press-Republican received numerous calls offering Jones assistance. Two of those calls came from Jones’s former employers, Andrew Golt and Carol Klepper, who offered reward money for the return of the wheelchair or to help with prosecution of those involved.
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