TULSA, Okla. — 12-year-old, Ruthanne McLauchlan loves being outside on her playset and riding her scooter.
But unlike most children, she relies on medicine and machines just to stay alive.
"She has what's called Congenital Myotonic Dystrophy and it's a form of Muscular Dystrophy that attacks different organ groups and hers is mostly with her digestive organs, her heart, her lungs. She does have a trachea that helps her breath and a feeding tube and she's on a ventilator," said her mother, Andrea.
On Saturday, her father John got an alert on his phone that someone was at their front door.
"I saw this lady come up to the porch and just pick up the packages," he said.
Surveilance video shows the thief, later identified as Allison Martin walking up the front steps and taking the packages full of Ruthanne's life saving medical supplies.
The family says they filed a police report and also put the video on the Next Door App.
"Someone knew the woman and so they were able to give us her name, so we gave them to police. They went over and were able to find her and showed her the vehicle that was in the video sitting right in the front yard. The policeman said she admitted it when they showed her the video, but she said she dumped the packages because she didn't find the stuff useful and threw it in the dumpster," said Andrea.
The medical supply company says they are willing to replace the supplies, however the family's insurance company is not cooperating at this time.
For now, Andrea says they are forced to use Ruthanne's old supplies, despite the risk of bacteria getting into her system.
2 News reached out to the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office and discovered that there have only been 18 people charged with porch piracy since 2020.
If you would like to help out the family with medical supplies, a Gofundme has been set up.
Just click on the link below to donate.
Secure our packages, organized by John McLauchlan [gofund.me]
Trending stories from 2 News Oklahoma:
- Organization supports male educators of color
- ORU taking on TCU in first game of 2023 College World Series
- Tulsa firefighters running 500 miles to benefit Harrison Moseby
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
