Monday, 13 August 2007 01:33

San Joaquin County Theft Could Impact Local Services

A theft in San Joaquin County could impact Amador County Citizens that are clients of the United Cerebral Palsy. Lat week a thief broke into the building that houses the United Cerebral Palsy of Amador, Calaveras and San Joaquin Counties. The charity serves more than 2,000 clients from the 3 counties.
The thief stole two DynaVoxes communication devices worth about $11,000. The boxes are used as communication equipment by physically disabled people to communicate. Without the devices, which look very similar to a lap top computer, simple communication is nearly impossible for those impacted by the theft as they use it as their voices to communicate with the world. The DynaVox has symbols and a keyboard, when used it vocalizes the commands for it’s user.  The thief apparently broke into the United Cerebral Palsy building located on Benjamin Holt Drive in Stockton last week and stole the devices, which Police believe the thief thought it was a lap top computer. As if to further the pain already felt by the United Cerebral Palsy clients who are now without their voice, the thief also defecated on the carpet before leaving. The losses now total $14,000 for the non profit group as in the same week thieves punctured the gas tank of two agency’s buses in an attempt to siphon the gas. The United Cerebral is asking for the community's help to replace the stolen equipment. Send donations to 333 W. Benjamin Holt Drive, Stockton, CA 95207, and write "DynaVox" on the memo line. Or call (209) 956-0290. Tips to the Stockton Police Department can be made to (209) 937-8377.