Wheelchair Thief Strikes At Indiana Casino
(CBS) -- A woman whose wheelchair was stolen April 25 from the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, Ind. is pleading for the thief to return it.
Paula Goodwin was feeling stir-crazy from a February fall that broke her right leg. Her friend, Patty Rarity, of Valparaiso, Ind., just wanted to help her have fun.
They took the wheelchair-walker Goodwin had borrowed from her parents and settled in at the penny slots, oblivious of a woman who kept moving closer to them, one seat at a time.
Video shows that when Rarity hit a jackpot, the unknown woman grabbed the hunter-green wheelchair and took off, leaving behind a blue walker with broken brakes and wheels that won't turn.
"That's pretty low," Rarity said.
Goodwin is too broke to afford a new wheelchair and has been hopping around for two weeks, using a traditional walker, despite a doctor's admonition to stay off the right leg.
The thief was last seen boarding a bus for Detroit, and Rarity said the casino told Goodwin that the bus had no manifest and the woman had no player's card.