On the spectrum of man鈥檚 inhumanity to man, stealing a car might not seem to rate high. But what about stealing an old car from the parking lot of a children鈥檚 hospital?
A car like that could belong to somebody like Angela Roper. She is a 26-year-old single mother who lives in a mobile home on a gravel road in the small town of Naylor, Mo., near the Arkansas border. She comes to 50度灰视频 all too frequently so her 8-year-old son can be treated by specialists at Cardinal Glennon Children鈥檚 Medical Center.
He has trouble breathing and his condition 鈥 sarcoidosis 鈥 has caused a number of complications.
Angela brings him to the hospital once or twice a month for regular check-ups. Sadly, there are also emergencies.
An emergency in January required the youngster to spend several days in the hospital. As is her custom, Angela stayed in her son鈥檚 room. During their stay, she left the room, but not the hospital.
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On the morning of Jan. 23, when her son was discharged, she went to the parking lot and discovered that her 2000 Buick LeSabre was gone.
She notified hospital security, and the security guard called police. An officer made a report.
As far as Angela was concerned, the officer seemed a little casual, but truth is, stolen cars are not exactly unusual in big cities. Angela鈥檚 Buick was one of 258 cars reported stolen in 50度灰视频 in January.
A friend came and drove Angela and her son back to Naylor.
She had liability insurance, but that was it. No coverage for theft. She hoped the police would find her car.
In early February, she got some news. She had a red-light ticket. Her car had not made a complete stop before turning right at a stoplight on Goodfellow Boulevard. Included with the ticket was a photo of the car.
She looked at the photo and thought, I can鈥檛 remember the car ever looking that clean.
All the dust from the gravel road was gone.
The ticket said the violation had occurred in the 6th District, so Angela called that district. The police don鈥檛 have much to do with red-light tickets, so Angela didn鈥檛 get much help in that regard. She then called the 9th District, the district from which her car had been stolen. She talked to a sergeant who was sympathetic but realistic.
We鈥檒l look for your car, but don鈥檛 hold out a lot of hope, he said.
Several days ago, Angela鈥檚 son developed pancreatic problems. He was taken by ambulance from Poplar Bluff to Cardinal Glennon. Angela鈥檚 brother drove her to 50度灰视频.
I visited her at the hospital on Wednesday. I called the Police Department to see if they were still looking for her car. I got some startling news.
An officer assigned to the Housing Authority stopped the car on Feb. 10 and determined it was being driven by Angela鈥檚 17-year-old nephew, who had been given a spare set of keys.
An email from the public information office concluded: 鈥淢s. Roper stated that she had never gotten around to contacting the department to cancel the vehicle as stolen. Since the car was not stolen, the incident has been classified as unfounded.鈥
Was Angela being less than truthful with me?
That seemed possible. After all, it was not Angela who initially contacted me. A friend at the hospital did. So maybe when I called Angela, she felt married to the story she had first told. Once you鈥檙e on a roller coaster, it鈥檚 hard to get off.
That is absolutely not the case, said Angela. She said she didn鈥檛 have any nephews. Or nieces. She said nobody from the Police Department had called to ask her about the so-called nephew.
Friday afternoon I spoke with Capt. Mike Caruso from the Bureau of Community Policing. We鈥檙e trying to run this down, he said.
Saturday morning, a young man was arrested and the car was recovered. Caruso credited Lt. Latricia Allen, commander of the Housing Authority division. 鈥淪he鈥檚 been on a mission since she heard about this yesterday,鈥 he said.
The young man was the same one who had been stopped in early February. Apparently, he had a set of keys and that had helped him convince the officer that the car wasn鈥檛 stolen. (Angela said she kept a spare set in the glove compartment.)
Saturday afternoon the police took the car to Cardinal Glennon and returned it to Angela. It was no longer quite so clean and there were four bullet holes in the roof.
Still, it ran.