Disabled man’s bike stolen from in front of apartment

Mark Scraper is 23 years old, but he looks and acts about 10 years younger because he is developmentally disabled. Until last week, one of his greatest joys was to ride his bike to Bemiss Elementary School where he’d spend time on the playground and in the nearby park.

“He’d go seven or eight times a day if he could,” said his mom, Robin Scraper.

But on Sunday, Sept. 4, Mark’s bike was stolen from just outside the family’s residence at 2309 E. Euclid Ave., apt. 19.

“It was about 2 in the afternoon and he left the bike right outside the door, under an open window,” said Robin Scraper. “It was there for about half an hour and then it was gone. He cried. We went around looking for it but couldn’t find it.”

The blue, 10-speed Schwinn mountain bike was Mark’s only means of transportation and it was a birthday gift from his dad last year. The family does not have a car.

“We have no resources to get him another one,” said Robin Scraper, adding that she put off paying a bill so she could take out a classified ad in The Spokesman-Review urging whoever took the bike to return it.

Several people have called, she said.

“They offer him a new bike, but that’s not what we want,” Robin Scraper explained. “We want his bike returned. It was a gift. It meant so much to him.”

Robin Scraper can be reached at (509) 489-6505.