Autistic Tulsa Teen's Bike Stolen

A police report was filed after a woman says her autistic grandson’s new bike was stolen by a group of people inside an apartment on March 24^th.

Carolyn Chapman says her 17-year-old grandson Charlie was riding his bike down 74^th East Avenue when a few people starting talking to him from an apartment.

“He was talking to ‘em and they invited him into their apartment so he laid his bike down and didn’t lock it,” Carolyn explained.

She says that Charlie went into the apartment where there was a man, a woman, and a teenager. Charlie told his grandma that the man went out the back window, around the apartment and took off on his bike. The teenager then grabbed the key to the bike’s lock off of the lanyard that was around his neck. Charlie tried to chase after the guy on the bike but wasn’t able to keep up with him. Traumatized Charlie went to the nearby Quik Trip.

“I’ve always told him that QT is a safe spot.”

Quik Trip called police after employees noticed that Charlie had been loitering for a couple of hours. When officers showed up they took Charlie home.

“When he came into the house I said, “Where is your bike?” and he said somebody took it. So I ran out and grabbed the policeman before they left and they said, “Why don't you go over there and see if you can find it?”

Carolyn went over to the apartment that night but says the woman who answered the door claimed she didn’t know what was going on.

Carolyn went back to the apartment four times but tells us that she just kept getting a run-a-round and no information about the bike. Charlie remembers seeing several bikes inside the apartment while he was there. Carolyn said that same night when they went over to the apartment that all the bikes were gone leaving her to wonder if this is something they do on a regular basis.

“These people that have handicaps they are, are special, really special and people should respect that and not take advantage of them,” Carolyn added.

A receipt for the bike shows that they paid $597.22. The bike lock was an additional $49.79. Charlie had the bike only a few days before it was stolen.

Carolyn knows that it’s a long shot that she will get it back but she hopes that the person who took it will just do the right thing and turn it over.

We went to the apartment where Charlie says his bike was stolen and where Carolyn tells us she’s been going for answers to follow up but the person who answered the door told us that he didn’t know anything about a stolen bike and that he had nothing to do with it.