SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A family in Macomb County is asking a thief to return a stolen bike -- no questions asked.
It’s no ordinary bike -- it was built specifically for their 12-year-old son with cerebral palsy so he could ride with his sisters.
“The bike itself was bought because he can’t really do a two-wheel,” said Jennifer Kraft. “It keeps him steady and it keeps him safe.”
There’s nothing that gives a kid freedom more than a bike on a summer day and for Shelby Township residents Jennifer and Nicholas Kraft, that’s all they wanted for their son, Leland.
Like Leland, the bike was one-of-a-kind -- a tricycle built and modified so he could join his sisters on their rides.
It took the Krafts a long time to find the right kind of bike and more time to get it shipped in pieces and even more time giving it upgrades. Leland only had his bike for a few weeks before it was stolen Thursday night.
“It just seems like all that hard work we did to get it shipped here because of everything that’s going on, and my brother in-law’s work on the bike it -- just seems like it went to waste,” said Nicholas Kraft.
The loss is difficult to explain to Leland.
“I don’t know if he feels targeted individually but he was mad,” Nicholas Kraft said. “He was trying to figure out why someone would steal his bike.”
The family has looked all over the neighborhood and has been hunting for a listing on social media to no avail.
The trike cost the Krafts about $500, but they said its worth so much more.
“It was more so about his independence,” Nicholas Kraft said. “His sisters can ride their bikes and we wanted him to go on walks and bike ride and join in on the fun.”
A GoFundMe was set up by the family to replace the irreplaceable, but they have a message for the person who stole from Leland.
“If you have it, return it. If you got rid of it, I don’t know pay us,” Jennifer Kraft said. “I don’t want to turn them in. I just want his bike back.”
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