A San Jose family's wheelchair accessible van that was stolen for the second time in a matter of months last week was found Wednesday morning, but it has significant damage.
The van — customized to transport Carrie Hancock's 28-year-old son Jeffrey, who has muscular dystrophy — was found by Milpitas police at about 4:30 a.m. in a Wells Fargo parking lot near the entrance to Highway 237.
"The wheelchair lift was removed," Hancock said. "The most important part. It smelled really strong of something. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but once we opened it, we realized he painted the inside of all of the windows gray. It had curtains. Dude, all you got to do is pull them down."
Police arrested a man nearby who they believe was driving the van. He wasn't immediately identified, but he faces charges of auto theft, possession of burglary tools and narcotics paraphernalia. Police also said he had four outstanding warrants in four different cities.
"If he wasn’t the one who stole it, he knew it was stolen," Hancock said. "Come on."
The van was first stolen back in March and later recovered. After that theft, the family had to spend $5,000 to fix the damage.
It was stolen again last Thursday, but this time around, the van may be beyond repair.
"We were thinking about fixing it but once I realized what they did to the windows, I’m just done with it," Hancock said. "I just can’t. It’s no good. It’s garbage."
The family isn't sure if they'll be able to find a way to fix the van yet again or have to find another way to transport Jeffrey.
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“[Jeffrey’s] not going anywhere," Hancock said. "We can’t go anywhere with him. So, we’ve been shopping for a new one, but they’re really hard to come across."
