A motorized wheel chair stolen from a Flower Hill man with Cerebral Palsy has been returned, police said.
Police said two 14-year-old boys were arrested Saturday in Flower Hill for allegedly breaking into a home on Ridge Drive that was under construction, stealing a Quantum 600 Power Base wheel chair belonging to Vinny Pinello, 27, and riding it around the neighborhood until its battery died and they abandoned it.
“It’s important to me because it gives me independence,” Pinello told ABC 7.
But a neighbor found the chair, which was reportedly custom-made for Pinello and valued at $17,000, and it was returned to him.
The boys, who are from East Hills and Flower Hill, rode the wheel chair around the neighborhood until its battery died and they abandoned it, police said.
Detectives investigating the matter were led to the boys, who were not identified because they are minors, when they discovered pictures the two posted on Facebook, police said, and the boys were quickly located and placed under arrest without incident.
The boys were charged with third-degree counts of burglary and grand larceny and are due in Family Court in Westbury on June 17, police said.
