Boy’s stolen wheelchair found

Update:

After a week without it, a southern Colorado boy was reunited with his wheelchair Monday.

Vincent Wilson’s mother’s stolen van, and his wheelchair, were found abandoned at W. 18th Street and Perry Avenue in Pueblo on Monday.

The stolen wheelchair has been returned to its rightful owner.

No arrests have been made.

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Original Report:

Vincent Wilson isn’t your typical 8-year-old.

He likes to play at recess with his friends, but there’s a big difference between him and the other kids.

“His vertebrae didn’t close, so he had a golf ball size bubble on his back,” Vincent’s mother, Karen Wilson, said.

Vincent Wilson has a birth defect on his spinal cord. It affects his ability to walk and use his muscles, which makes a wheelchair crucial at times.

“I cannot catch up with my friends when we’re going to the library. It just gets me tired whenever I walk,” he said.

Vincent’s mother said her son’s wheelchair was inside her mother’s van Monday night outside her mother’s Colorado City home. She said sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning, someone broke into the van and stole it with the wheelchair inside.

Although for Vincent’s grandmother, Kata Schmidt, the van wasn’t her biggest concern.

“(Vincent) needs his chair. It’s an important part of his life,” she said.

Vincent said all he wants is his chair back so that things can go back to normal.

Vincent’s mother said the chair cost more than $4,000.

As for the van, Schmidt said it is a 2002 maroon Dodge Grand Caravan. The Colorado license plate number is 133-QXA.

If you know any information, you’re asked to call the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office at 583-6250.