Hearing equipment stolen, returned to deaf Columbus toddler
COLUMBUS, Ind. (WISH) – A Columbus mother says two strangers dropped off her deaf son’s missing hearing equipment Monday night.
Last week, someone broke into a car and stole the equipment.
The hearing equipment is worth about $10,000 dollars, the boy’s mother said.
Laura Coate said doctors gave her son a cochlear implant and boxes of equipment to help him hear last week.
After a long day, she forgot the equipment in the car. Coate said someone broke her car window and stole the equipment.
“I didn’t think for a second we would get it back,” Coate said. “I thought whoever took it would just throw it in the trash.”
She reached out to reporters and Facebook friends to spread the word.
Monday night, two women she doesn’t know knocked on her door.
“I don’t think they had direct contact with the person that stole it,” Coate said. “I think they knew somebody who knew somebody.”
The women gave Coate a bag with all the equipment still in the original packaging.
Coate said the thieves also stole a DVD player and a coin purse, but she was much more worried about the hearing equipment.
“I am mad that it happened, but I can’t stay mad. The person had the courage and the decency to give it back to me,” Coate said.
Columbus Police said they won’t assign an investigator to the case unless someone comes to them with more information.
Officials said their top concern was recovering the hearing equipment.
Coate said she’s thankful to everyone who offered to donate to her.
She said it’s likely that her son will eventually need replacement parts, which will be expensive. She said if people would still like to help they can donate to Hear Indiana.
