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Girl's prosthetic legs stolen for second time
Reuters ^ | 2/17/06 | Aarthi Sivaraman

Posted on 02/18/2006 11:23:46 AM PST by wagglebee

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.


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: artificiallimbs; depravity; moralabsolutes
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To: wagglebee

"Most guys just leaver hanging in the tree"


21 posted on 02/18/2006 11:56:04 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. Slay Pinch)
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To: wagglebee
Disgusting, Who would steal a piece of leg?/ sarc
22 posted on 02/18/2006 11:57:09 AM PST by Beagle8U (An "Earth First" kinda guy ( when we finish logging here, we'll start on the other planets.)
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To: Bob Eimiller

how could you tell? ;) Poor little girl, but it's not the end of the world... I'm sure the carpenter made her a new foot in a svosh!


23 posted on 02/18/2006 11:57:48 AM PST by Kurt_Hectic (Trust only what you see, not what you hear)
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To: wagglebee; sockmonkey
It's not exactly like you can take them to a pawn shop or sell them on ebay.

Yikes, I just looked on ebay, and there are lots of prosthetic limbs, listed on there.

24 posted on 02/18/2006 11:59:16 AM PST by sockmonkey
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To: wagglebee

Hmmm...perhaps the cops should look at Arcadia High School's softball competitors. This may be a case of Tanya Harding lack of sportsmanship.


25 posted on 02/18/2006 12:01:52 PM PST by NewRomeTacitus
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To: sockmonkey

Sounds like someone just being mean to that poor girl.


26 posted on 02/18/2006 12:04:14 PM PST by kenth
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To: leda

This is terrible of course, what has been inflicted on this poor girl not once, but twice by a particularily cruel, sick person.

Nevertheless, a question: If both prosthetic legs were stolen from her home while she was away,

Why was she not wearing one outside her home and how did she get about without one? Or must prostheses wearers occasionally use crutches because of discomfort caused by the artificial limb? Sincere answers, please.


27 posted on 02/18/2006 1:02:26 PM PST by elcid1970
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To: sockmonkey
Why would anyone steal prosthetic limbs.

They probably heard of the "value" of them, but failed to realize they are custom made and not worth a dime on the open market.

28 posted on 02/18/2006 1:06:17 PM PST by Flyer (Send Beer)
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To: kenth

I suspect evil older sister Melissa is in on it.


29 posted on 02/18/2006 1:10:22 PM PST by A knight without armor
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To: wagglebee

This reminds me of one of Flannery O'Connor's short stories, "Good Country People," about the hypocrticial travelling Bible salesman who steals Hulga's wooden leg. He boasts that he got a glass eye from another of his victims.


30 posted on 02/18/2006 1:17:36 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: elcid1970

im not sure why she would have left both legs at home
but it could have been because of the discomfort.

this just cannot be a random theft. she only lost her
own leg 2 yrs ago and this is the second time she's
been robbed of a prosthetic.

truly cruel!


31 posted on 02/18/2006 8:09:14 PM PST by leda (Dream a better dream and work to make it reality!)
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To: leda
im not sure why she would have left both legs at home but it could have been because of the discomfort.

This is a sad story. How cruel of the thief.

I would also guess probably discomfort. I knew a guy in HS who was born without his legs from the knee down. He rarely wore the prosthetic legs, becasue they were such a pain.

32 posted on 02/18/2006 10:42:19 PM PST by TheresaKett
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