SALT LAKE CITY – There is good news for a paralyzed Salt Lake man whose wheelchair-accessible van was stolen.
Salt Lake City officers said Tommy Ohmart's missing maroon van has been found in South Salt Lake at 170 E. Bank Ave. near 3000 S. Friday afternoon.
“If they felt the need to steal it, I hope that whatever they get out of it was important enough for them to steal it, I guess,” Ohmart said.
Since August, Ohmart has been traveling to Salt Lake City from Arizona for physical therapy treatments. The 27-year-old man was in a car accident in January, which nearly killed him.
“It left me paralyzed from my chest down, and also including my triceps and my hands,” Ohmart said.
A former Arizona State University football player, Ohmart has had to adapt to a new life. To assist him with that, his parents recently spent approximately $35,000 of their retirement savings to purchase a wheelchair accessible van.
“You’ve really got to be absolutely not thinking about others to do something like that to a family in such dire need of something like that,” said Ohmart’s brother, Chris.
The van was parked outside the Ohmarts’ condo near 700 North 800 West in Salt Lake City, Thursday morning. Because Ohmart’s body no longer functions well in the cold, his brother had turned the car on to heat it up. After loading it up with luggage and medicine, his family went inside to bring Ohmart out to the van. That’s when the van was suddenly stolen.
“Why? What are you going to get out of it?” asked Chris Ohmart.
The van is a 2010 Chrysler, with an Arizona License plate, No. WCJBG33.
According to the family, a neighbor noticed two women and a man in the neighborhood at the time the van was taken. Because of how quiet their neighborhood is, they believe the person(s) who stole the van may know them.
Anyone with information about what happened is asked to contact Salt Lake City PD at 801-799-3000.
If you would like to help the family with expenses, click here.
